Sports

Sourav Ganguly doesn’t agree with India’s number one position in Tests

Former captain says Kohli's real trial will begin once his team goes overseas

Sports Desk October 04, 2016

ganguly says india haven 039 t beaten any big teams outside home photo afp

Ganguly says India haven't beaten any big teams outside home. PHOTO: AFP

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly believes India’s rise back to the number position in Tests is still questionable as they haven’t beaten big teams outside home.

"I still don't agree with the number one position because I don't think India have won in Australia, England, South Africa or New Zealand,” Ganguly told India Today. “I didn't agree to Pakistan's number one position. In my era, Australia were the real number one Test side because they won everywhere.”

India crush New Zealand to reclaim top ranking

India, on Monday, became the number one Test side for the third time this year in the International Cricket Council’s rankings after beating visiting New Zealand by 178 runs in the second of the three-match series.

MEET THE NEW No.1 TEST SIDE - #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/q2a38mAYsl
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 3, 2016

Virat Kohli registered his fourth consecutive Test series victory and already has become the fourth most successful captain for India with nine wins in 16 outings but Ganguly thinks the 27-year-old's real trial hasn’t begun.

Kohli shrugs off rankings pressure for New Zealand Test

“It's quite a lot of wins for Kohli already,” said Ganguly. “He's got 11 more Tests to play in India, he will be very quickly close to a lot of people in the next one year. But I think his real test will begin when his side goes overseas.”

India better than Pakistan in Tests

Ganguly also commented on Pakistan’s rise to the number one in Test rankings and said it was a surprise and India are a better five-day side than their arch-rivals.

Getting to number one was always a short-term incentive, says Kohli

"I don't think Pakistan are India's yardstick at the moment,” said Ganguly. “India are a far better side than Pakistan in Test cricket. So I don't think it could be a comparison. I was surprised to see Pakistan becoming number one after their 2-2 series against England.”

Mmm! Knowing you'll be captain of a Test No.1 side makes even a sweaty cap taste good! #BestOfTest #ShotOfTheDay pic.twitter.com/R8Jp16KIG6
— ICC (@ICC) October 3, 2016

He continued: "So I really didn't consider that to be number one but I think this win is lot more satisfying for India and lot more satisfying for viewers like us and for people who played cricket for such a long time.”

COMMENTS (5)

FAZ | 8 years ago | Reply @wang fang: PS: The test rankings are for the "current" year. You can declare Indian team as the best in history of cricket in some other forum may be

wang fang | 8 years ago | Reply ganguly forgot that india won test series in newzealand under dhonis captiancy few years back 1-0 in 3 test series,west indies 2 times recently(1-0 under dhoni and 2-0 under kohli) and england under dravids captaincy 1-0 in 3 test series.in austarlia india have not won the test series recently but drawn the test series and in south africa india has won test matches but not test series.so it is a decent record overseas.

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Core value | 8 years ago | Reply When it comes to Pakistan, an Indian will always remain biased.

Ak | 8 years ago | Reply Lets Just Play a Test Series in DXB, and we will know who is #

NR | 8 years ago | Reply Dear Mr. Ganguly, Your team first need to play a test series with Pakistan to establish who is better. Which you are not wiolling to play. You just cant declare them better on paper. Hope you remember what happened to the Indina team when they visited Eng last time?

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