Former India captain Sourav Ganguly heaped praise on Virat Kohli and advised him to leave the ball outside off stump in the tricky conditions at the Oval in the World Test Championship Final against Australia. India lost their openers Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma early on Day 2 of the all-important clash which put the onus on Kohli to pull India back into the game.
Virat Kohli was unbeaten on 4 alongside Cheteshwar Pujara at Tea as India trailed by 432 runs after the Aussies were bowled out for 469 in their first innings.
IND vs AUS WTC Final LIVE – Day 2 Updates
Ganguly said that Kohli knows how to bat in these situations as he has a good record in Test and ‘best-ever’ in Test cricket according to the former India skipper.
“He has to leave the deliveries outside off stump which he has already done. today, a few times just before tea, he knows how to score runs in these conditions. His Test record is very good, his ODI Record is probably the best ever in the history of One Day Cricket and he will know what the situation requires,” Ganguly told Star Sports.
The legendary India skipper further advised the batters to leave the balls outside off stump and punish the loose deliveries to get the scoreboard moving.
“Same with Pujara, they both have played 100 Test matches, immense experience, they have been in this situation, many a number of times and they fought the situations where in the past. Make sure where your off-stump is and every time there is a scoring opportunity keeps scoring runs because that will put the pressure back on Australia,” he added.
ALSO READ | WATCH: Shardul Thakur Castles Centurion Steve Smith to Pull India Back in WTC Final 2023
Talking about the Indian openers’ early departure, Ganguly said that the bowlers will bowl good deliveries with new ball on this surface but pointed out that Rohit has been dismissed in the same fashion in the past few times.
“You will get good deliveries upfront with the new ball. There was a good one for Rohit Sharma and he has been out a few times with the ball coming back into him Shubman Gill missed the line and it knocked the off-stump. So Bolland will be a handy bowler on this wicket and he will trouble India right throughout this Test match but you expect to see this in Test matches with these conditions so they may have lost a couple of wickets but it’s a lot of batting to come you need a partnership from Pujara and Virat Kohli,” he added.