Sourav Ganguly and Virat Kohli are two of India’s most dynamic captains, each of whom brought about a shift in the team’s mindset and approach during their respective captaincy eras. The team turned a new leaf under Ganguly, refusing to fold in the face of any challenge, a trait shared by Kohli, whose aggressive and in-your-face captaincy has gotten people talking.
However, former India batsman Mohammad Kaif pointed out that one significant difference between Ganguly and Kohli is the number of opportunities they would provide their players. For the next five years, India would play almost the same team in every tournament, with some minor exceptions, with Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, and Rahul Dravid being the constants with the bat, and Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, and Anil Kumble being the go-to men with the ball in both Tests and ODIs.
Kohli, on the other hand, has a habit of fielding a different Playing XI nearly every match. Kohli had gone ahead with a different Playing XI for 38 straight Test matches before the patterns came to an end in 2018, when he fielded the same XI against England in the fourth Test at Southampton as he did in the third game of the series at Nottingham.
In response, Kaif stated that it is critical for players in the current Indian team to feel wanted, which can only happen if they are given a longer run with the team, as Ganguly did.
“When I was captain for many years, I have captained several young players. So, in the long term, the security of a player’s place in the team is what mattered. Things like ‘go on, play. You will get 4-5 opportunities; I am behind you’. Basically, what Ganguly used to do with us. That is the classic way of handling. That is what a leader does. But that is not Virat Kohli’s method,” Kaif told Sports Tak..
Having said that, Kaif recognises that things were very different under Ganguly’s leadership. The pool of Indian players in the early 2000s was not as deep as it is today, which is why the former India captain mostly relied on his usual group of players.
“Back then, when we speak about Ganguly, he didn’t have so many options. We didn’t have the IPL back then. There were fewer distractions. He had the same pool of 20-25 players and he had to pick out of them to play and support. So Ganguly knew that. He too had seen that if a player is not backed, not given opportunities, a player is not able to give his best performance. He has a feeling of doubt and fear in his mind,” Kaif explained.
