‘What surprised me is his form in…’ – Sourav Ganguly urges Indian seniors to step up with the bat during England tour in June

Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly was a guest on Revsportz’ Trailblazer 3.0 event recently. The 52-year-old was asked to speak on variety of topics, one of which was about India’s upcoming tour of England which begins in June. Rohit Sharma is likely to lead the side in the five-match series which will begin the next cycle of World Test Championships. 

It is a huge series for India after their last two Test series outings have ended in a loss. Ganguly, during the course of the event while speaking to Revsportz’ Boria Majumdar said that India’s senior batters namely Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli need to step up and score runs. Both players have been phenomenal in the white-ball format their form in the longest format of the game has come under the cloud. 

Speaking on Revsportz’ Trailblazer 3.0 event, Ganguly said about Rohit Sharma, “I think he is a much better player than just scoring 30s and 40s in 50-over cricket. He will still score at a very good strike-rate. And if you remember the hundred, he got against England in Cuttack, he was brilliant.”

Sourav Ganguly urges Rohit to play his natural game in Test cricket

India’s former skipper urged the 37-year-old to play his natural game and said, “As much as quick starts are required because India bats very deep - Ravindra Jadeja bats at No. 8, Axar Patel bats at five - he can have that freedom at the top. But I think he is a much better player than that. I was reading Mr Gavaskar saying that Rohit should not just look at 20s and 30s but bat 25-30 overs and get to a big score. Rightfully so, because if he bats 30 overs, India will beat any team.”

Dada as he is fondly called also said, "Look at what Virat Kohli did against Pakistan in a pressure game. He took the game till the end, and I think Rohit Sharma can do that. White-ball and red-ball cricket are different, and as I said, he is a phenomenal white-ball player. But what surprised me is his form in red-ball over the last four or five years. A player of his stature, his ability, I think he can do much better than what he has done.”

Ganguly also said that India’s form in red-ball cricket needs to improve compared the white-ball and red-ball squads. “In ODI cricket, they are unbeatable. When you look at Indian cricket in the white ball, you can have two teams who will beat any team in the world at the moment. You see the T20 side - there is no Rohit Sharma, no Virat Kohli, no Shreyas Iyer, no KL Rahul, no Shubman Gill, and they still hammer everyone.”

“They went to South Africa and won all the games. England came here, and they hammered England. So, there are actually 30 players who can wear the Indian shirt in white-ball cricket and win games for India. But whether it is the same in red-ball cricket? I am not sure yet. That culture needs to come back," added Sourav Ganguly.