Captain fantastic Virat Kohli builds Team India, takes everyone along: Sourav Ganguly

Mumbai: Team India has been enjoying a purple patch for the last 15 months. After a dominant run at home, Virat Kohli and co proved their credentials abroad by clinching the ODI and the T20 series in the recently-concluded tour of South Africa.

While all the members of the team contributed significantly to the cause, it was skipper Virat Kohli who lead from the front, as a leader and as a batsman.

The classy-right hander smashed many records as he scored 871 runs across all formats with a staggering average of 79.18 runs, consisting of two fifties and four centuries.

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly lauded Kohli for being a terrific leader and leading everyone along the road. The 45-year-old even praised the swashbuckling batsman for involving veteran MS Dhoni in his plans.

"What Virat Kohli has done for MS Dhoni is a learning experience for everyone. Not many times in teams do current captains look after the former captains like this. There have been times when former captains have been pushed aside.

"But Kohli, that's why for me, is such a fantastic leader. He creates a team, he builds a team and he takes everyone along. Look at the faith he has in Dhoni, in Rohit Sharma, in Shikhar Dhawan and in Hardik Pandya. So, I keep saying as long as Kohli as leader of Team India, I have got a lot of hopes from this side” Ganguly was quoted saying to India Today.

However, tougher tasks await Ravi Shastri’s boys with upcoming overseas tours of England and Australia. And Ganguly said the current team has the potential to do the impossible on the upcoming tour of England in July.

“Five-match Test series in England with Virat Kohli finishing 2-1, 3-1 or 3-2 will be what this team should be wanting. And for me who is looking from outside it is this team which is got the capability,” he added.