Former India captain Virat Kohli‘s form has been a concern heading into the Border-Gavaskar series, which begins from Friday in Perth, but India legend Sourav Ganguly admitted that he would “never write off” a “great player” like Kohli, as he backed him to find his rhythm back.
Since the start of 2020, Kohli has averaged only 31 in Test cricket, scoring just two centuries in 60 innings. The run included his tally of 93 runs against New Zealand earlier this month, where he averaged only 15.50, his worst in a home contest in the last seven years.
The poor run of form sparked concerns among former cricketers and experts, who reckoned that the Australia campaign could turn out to be a make-or-break series for the 36-year-old. But Ganguly reckoned Kohli would find the spark yet again, against his favourite opposition, and at the same venue where it had all began for the India star 12 years back.
Speaking on Club Prairie Fire, Ganguly admitted Kohli isn’t young any more and that he has a reputation to maintain, but sent a sharp reminder over his stunning record in Australia as he backed the India No. 4 to emulate the same yet again.
“I never rule out great players. He hasn’t had the best of times in Test cricket. He landed in Australia early. He’s hungry. He knows that he has a reputation to keep. He will be playing on good pitches. He has six Test hundreds in Australia in 13 Tests. Yes, it was 4-5 years back, and that was a young Virat Kohli. He is ageing now,” he said.
Virat Kohli receives untold ‘Rahul Dravid’ story
Ganguly then narrated an unheard Rahul Dravid story from the 2011 Pataudi Trophy series. The latter was going through his worst run in Test cricket, havinh not scored an overseas ton in four years. Ganguly, who had retired from cricket a year back, and was in England for commentary duties, asked Dravid whether he was contemplating retirement, but the latter denied, saying that he can still continue. Dravid went on to score three centuries in the four-Test series to emerge as India’s leading run-getter (461 runs).
“I’ve seen Rahul Dravid. He did not have an overseas hundred between 2007 to 2011, then he went to England. I met him one day at Lord’s. I had finished a year back, and I was commentating. I asked him how long he was going to play, and he said that he still believed he could do it and keep scoring runs. He got four (three) Test hundreds in four matches in that series in 2011. And remember, he opened in that series,” Ganguly said.
