Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has backed Virat Kohli saying that the young skipper will learn from India's six-wicket defeat to New Zealand in the first of the three-match ODI series in Mumbai on Sunday, October 22. The 45-year-old added that the Indian captain is not a superhuman and also shed light on how former captain MS Dhoni also struggled against quality teams at home.
India headed into the first ODI on Sunday on a high after having crushed world champions Australia 4-1 in the recently-concluded ODI series. Notably, the Men in Blue have not lost any ODI series at home since South Africa defeated a Dhoni-led side in 2015.
Latham, Taylor decimate India
Things initially went right for captain Kohli in his 200th match as he won the toss and opted to bat on a humid afternoon in Mumbai. However, New Zealand pacer Trent Boult struck early to remove both the Indian openers, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.
Kohli, with a record-breaking 31st ton, single-handedly helped India post 280 on the board. However, it was not enough as Tom Latham and Ross Taylor stitched a 200-run stand to help the visitors ease past the finish line and take a 1-0 lead in the series.
Learning curve
Unlike the Australians, who folded against spin in the middle overs, New Zealand showed determination to tackle the threat from Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. Latham came up with a solid show against the in-form wrist-spinners, sweeping often to ruin their rhythm.
"Kohli will get better. He will lose games once in a while even in India. He is not superhuman. No captain has gone through without losing games and series in India. You look at MS Dhoni's last one year as captain, he lost in Bangladesh. South Africa came and beat us at home. We were then beaten by West Indies in the World T20 semi-final," Ganguly told India Today on Sunday.
He added: "He will lose, he is a human. There are good oppositions. New Zealand's middle order, unlike Australia, is going to test the Indian bowlers. This series is going to be a good workout for India. It will test India and eventually, it will be good for them."
'Captain Kohli could have done better'
Ganguly though hit out at Kohli for not trying Kedar Jadhav when Latham and Taylor were playing the wrist-spinners comfortably. Notably, the 32-year-old all-rounder, with his slingy action, has often provided the much-needed breakthroughs for the team, but the Indian captain on Sunday did not use the sixth bowler.
"I think the Indian team was a bit flat during the later part of New Zealand's chase. They [Latham and Taylor] played Kuldeep very well. Latham swept him well, after getting settled he started reverse sweeping him well," Ganguly said.
"From that point of view, I thought Virat Kohli could have done a little bit better. But that's the way it is, he will learn. You have to give credit to New Zealand, very rarely seen any side in the last two years play spin very well against India," he added.
'One of Kohli's best knocks'
However, the Prince of Calcutta was all praise for the way Kohli paced his innings on Sunday. The Indian skipper battled humid conditions and scored 121 from 125 balls. Even as wickets kept falling at the other end, Kohli was composed as ever against the likes of Boult and Mitchell Santner, who impressed with the ball.
"Kohli played a fantastic innings today. At one stage at half-time when I had a look at the pitch, I thought it was one of his best knocks. Latham and Taylor played even better and outplayed Kohli," the former captain said.
"Players from this team and from outside should learn from Kohli how to adapt to conditions. On a wicket which had a bit more bounce and assistance to fast bowlers, he changed his game. That's the trait of a great player," he added.
