After India won the first One Day International of the five-match ODI series at Guwahati by 8 wickets. The West Indies performed strongly in the next two ODIs. The second One Day International ended in a tie at Visakhapatnam while in the third One Day International at Pune, Windies won by 43 runs defeating India.
But India regained its form in the fourth ODI and beat Windies to took the lead by 2-1 before the fifth One Day International scheduled at Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram.
Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly’s appealed to include KL Rahul in the playing XI for the 4th and the 5th ODI series against the Windies.
KL Rahul was left out of the team for the fourth consecutive game of the series in Mumbai. KL Rahul has been named as a backup opener. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are the preferred options in ODIs.
Sourav Ganguly is not convinced about the decision and argues for Rahul to be in the starting XI in India’s ODI. He told that India has a lot to think about. He still believes Lokesh Rahul should not be sitting out. He told that the middle-order desperately needs to be given a good look. The selectors are leaving it too late, he added.
On Virat Kohli’s record of three successive centuries and brilliant performances in ODIs against West Indies and on comparing Virat Kohli with past legends, Ganguly has an opinion that instead of comparing the current Indian captain with legends of the past era, one should sit back and enjoy his class and penchant to score runs.
Ganguly added, “Coming to India, once again it has totally been a Virat Kohli show. One is at a loss of words when it comes to talking about his superlative talent.”
Sourav Ganguly said that there are already a lot of comparisons. Ganguly’s point is simple: “let statistics take care of themselves. Rather, what we should be doing is sitting back and enjoying this man’s class. Along with his ability as a player what stands out is his hunger for runs.”