Sourav Ganguly, India’s former captain, shared some thoughts on the team’s upcoming tour of England. He thinks Rishabh Pant needs to be ready to take some chances and handle the swinging ball if he wants to score runs. Ganguly also pointed out that outside of India, Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal are the only batsmen with great stats.
India is set to play five Test matches against England, led by Ben Stokes. These games will kick off the 2025-27 World Test Championship cycle.
During Trailblazers 3.0 by RevSportz, Ganguly voiced his worry that Kohli and Jaiswal are the only players averaging over 40 when playing away from home.
Ganguly said that Pant needs to get tough and learn to play the swinging ball. He can’t just swing at everything and expect to score runs in Test matches. For him, it is all about having the right mindset, determination, and resilience.
He feels that the team has got the talent. He believes that Kohli is one of the best. He can not see him fail in those five Tests in England. Ganguly thinks guys like Jaiswal, Pant, KL Rahul, and Shubman Gill really need to step up and make a difference.
To back up his point, the former India captain brought up India’s past victories over Pakistan, Australia, and England when playing abroad.
Ganguly explained that it is possible for India to improve their red-ball performance in England, but they have to bat well. He talked about when India played their best cricket away from home, that was when they were putting up 400-500 runs on the board.
He brought up his generation, remembering when the team won in England, tied the series one-all in Australia against what he said was the best cricket team ever, and won in Pakistan. He thinks the reason for this was their ability to score 600 runs.
It’s worth noting that Jaiswal has scored 707 runs in nine Tests away from home, averaging of 44.18 with two centuries. Rahul, has scored 2108 runs in 38 Tests away from home, averaging 31, with seven centuries.
Also, India’s current captain, Rohit Sharma, has scored 1644 runs in 31 Tests away from home, averaging 31, with two centuries. However, Kohli has racked up 4774 runs in 66 Tests away from home, averaging 41.51, including 16 centuries.
