Sourav Ganguly has advised Virat Kohli to bat at crucial number four position to provide solidity to the India\u2019s batting line-up in the three-match ODI series against England, starting here on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Since the tour of Sri Lanka in July-August 2017, India have tried as many as six different batsmen KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik and Ajinkya Rahane at the number four position but Ganguly feels Kohli is the best bet for the crucial slot.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at this T20I series, I think they have formed the proper batting line-up. With Rahul at number three, and Virat Kohli batting at number four, I think the problem has been sorted out. And I firmly believe it is also the right thing to do in the ODI format as well,\u201d Ganguly said after the UK launch of his book \u2018A Century is Not Enough\u2019 last night.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s what Kohli is going to do (in the upcoming series) as well,\u201d the former skipper opined.<\/p>\n
Ganguly was of the opinion that England lack firepower in their bowling line-up, which will give the visitors an edge in the ODIs. India started off the English summer with a bang, winning the three-match T20I series 2-1.<\/p>\n
\u201cEngland are a good side. They are a very good batting unit but bowling is the weaker part of their game. The way India won (easily) in Bristol when chasing 200 (in a T20 game), they will fancy their chances against this English bowling line-up in the ODI series,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He, however, cautioned Kohli and Co. against taking England lightly in the long series. \u201cOff late, the Indian team has been doing well in T20Is. I have enjoyed their performance in this England series as well. But they have to be mindful that it is only the start of a long summer with ODIs and five Tests to follow,\u201d Ganguly said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have set the tone for the latter contests with this win, but different formats will present different challenges for them. India should also know that they are a good unit and they can do well here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about India\u2019s strengths ahead of what should be another keenly contested series between both the sides, Ganguly said, \u201cAt the moment, India are a very good and well-rounded limited-overs\u2019 side.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of good Indian sides have been tested in England and some of the better ones have done well here and won before. I think this Indian team can be like that, they can definitely win here this summer, definitely the ODIs and possibly the Tests too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ganguly rated India as one of the most talented batting units in the game at present. \u201cIt is one of the most talented batting units in limited-overs\u2019 in world cricket at the moment. The top-order is brilliant with Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, and if they continue to score more runs at the top, they can challenge my partnership records with Sachin Tendulkar soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cRohit, in particular, is a terrific player in the limited overs\u2019 arena and will probably end up as one of the greats in white-ball cricket,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ganguly\u2019s comments should come as a boost to India, who are starting their preparations for the 2019 ODI World Cup in England which is less than a year away.<\/p>\n
While the team\u2019s readiness seems on schedule in most areas concerning batting and bowling, there is a gaping hole in the middle order despite the experience of MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina and the new-found exuberance of Hardik Pandya.<\/p>\n
The former captain was also mighty impressed with wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav\u2019s showing on this UK trip so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sourav Ganguly has advised Virat Kohli to bat at crucial number four position to provide solidity to the India\u2019s batting line-up in the three-match ODI series against England, starting here on Thursday. Since the tour of Sri Lanka in July-August 2017, India have tried as many as six different batsmen KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav, Manish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36751,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36752,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36750\/revisions\/36752"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}