advertisement
Former captain Sourav Ganguly on Tuesday insisted that Virat Kohli's IPL captaincy will not have an impact in the World Cup as he enjoys a good record as an ODI skipper.
The biggest advantage for Kohli will be the support of two very successful leaders -- Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rohit Sharma -- on whom he can fall back on during testing situations.
Royal Challengers Bangalore's repeated failures in the Indian Premier League have put the spotlight on Kohli's leadership skills but Ganguly said Indian captaincy is a different ball game.
The 46-year-old felt Hardik Pandya will play a key role in India's campaign at the mega event, starting May 30 in England.
The former left-handed batsman picked Pakistan alongside India, Australia and England as the four semi-finalists in the upcoming World Cup, saying their records in world tournaments in England is remarkable.
England has been a 'lucky' venue for Pakistan, who had won the 2017 Champions Trophy beating India and had also bagged their maiden World Twenty20 title in 2009.
He also cited the recent example of Pakistan's second ODI against England, in which they almost chased down a mammoth 374 before going down by only 12 runs.
Ganguly, however, was quick to add that Virat Kohli's men should not be wary of Pakistan and they would prove to be strong contenders.
Asked to compare this team with that of his team of 2003 that lost to Australia in the final, Ganguly said: "Both the teams are of different generations. We played the final in 2003. I hope they play the final and win it.
Starting as one of the favourites, India would be under tremendous pressure but Ganguly felt it would bring out the best from Kohli and Co.
"You rather turn up like an India or an Australia or an England where everybody says this team is going to win the World Cup. So Virat, probably being the best player of the world at the moment, is as much under pressure as anybody else and that will be good for him because he will turn up, work hard, he will be pumped and get India going," said Ganguly.
Ganguly said it would be an interesting World Cup as all 10 teams will play each other before the best four qualify for the knockouts.
"So it's good that India is under pressure because it will help them perform and it's going to be exciting 55 days of cricket," Ganguly said.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)