Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has asked Test specialist Ajinkya Rahane and Murali Vijay to play with more determination reminding them of the runs scored by them in English conditions before. Ganguly had also advised Indian captain Virat Kohli to not change the playing XI after the 31-run loss in the series opener.
Indian cricket team lost the first match the of five-match Test series by 31 runs, as the batters barring Virat Kohli failed to counter England’s pace attack.
India’s Mr Dependable Ajinkya Rahane scored 17 (15, 2) runs in both the innings and opener Murali Vijay scored just 26 runs (20, 6) contributing 43 runs together in the first Test at Edgbaston.
In his Instagram post, Dada wrote, “If you’ve to win a Test then everyone has to score runs,” adding, “This was the first Test in a 5 match series & I think this team has the capability to come back & play well. #AjinkyaRahane & #MuraliVijay will have to show some determination since they have scored runs in these conditions before.”
A post shared by Sourav Ganguly (@sganguly99) on
“I don’t think the captain is responsible for the loss. If you’re the captain then you’ll be criticised for a loss the same way as you’re congratulated for a win.”
Sourav Ganguly also warned Virat Kohli against changing and chopping after the heartbreaking loss.
“One criticism for @Virat.Kohli is that he should give a consistent run to his batters & more time before dropping them. The failure against swing in English conditions can’t be used as an excuse any more as everyone knows that it’s what you get when you come to England.”
“You can’t be excused all the time & we have lost before in 2011 & 2014. You’ve to bat well. It’s a very well known fact that the ball will swing in England the same way as Australia is known for its pacy wickets. So if previously you’ve scored runs there is no reason you can’t now.”
The 29-year-old captain holds his ground and showed the British crowd why he is considered the best in the world with his maiden century on English soil and followed that with a valiant fifty in the second innings.
“The captain should give confidence to his players. It’s his team & only he can change their mindset. He will have to sit with them & tell them that if he can do it so can they. He should give them time & tell them to go out & play without any fear.”
“It is true that after continuous chopping & changing of the playing XI, players can get afraid that after all these years they’ve failed to garner the faith of the team management.”
“The good thing about the great teams of the past – whether it be #Australia, #SouthAfrica or our very own team which won the Test series here in 2007 – was that the boys used to play both formats of the game – #SachinTendulkar, #RahulDravid, #VirenderSehwag, including myself.
“So even if you played badly in 1 or 2 matches you got a lot of time to get back into form at the international level. Playing & scoring 150 in first-class cricket can’t compensate for international cricket. In this team no batsman except Virat plays all the formats.”