5 reasons why Sourav Ganguly's team did much better than Virat Kohli's team overseas

Indian cricket may have a history of 85 years, but not every year is remembered with great fondness. In such a large span of time, any team is certain to go through ups-and-downs.

In 2000, cricket in India was perhaps at it's lowest ebb, following the Match-Fixing scandal that had tarnished its image. It required a breath of fresh air, a new direction.

At such a stage emerged a group of players, who were ambitious, hungry and driven enough to take the side forward and to take them ahead also emerged a leader in the form of Sourav Ganguly.

Between 2000 and 2005, under him, India played some superb cricket, not just at home but abroad as well and even now more than a decade after that, supporters of Indian cricket remember the wins, individual brilliance of those group of players fondly.

The present team under Virat Kohli is sporadically spoken as a side who could emulate Ganguly and his men, but right now are finding it hard to do that.

Here are five reasons why Ganguly's side did better overseas than Kohli's is doing right now:

Consistency in selection

When Kohli's term as India captain comes to an end, one of the talking points would be the manner in which he chopped and changed constantly. The only predictable about the change is the change itself, for no one in the present line-up knows whether they would play in two consecutive matches.

Under Ganguly, there was a consistency. Regardless of whether India had won the previous game or not, there was no doubting that Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman would form the fulcrum of the batting unit in the succeeding match.

The only time he chopped a bit was while choosing between Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh and later on, he admitted it wasn't the easiest decision to make.

The constancy meant that India could form the batting unit which became known as the 'Fab 5' and perhaps Kohli can take a cue from this.

Not dependent on one batsman for runs

Each of these 5 great players had at least one performance of note between 2000 and 2005

One look at the phase between 2000 and 2005 and you would see that each of Ganguly, Dravid, Tendulkar, Sehwag and Laxman had at least one standout performance to speak about that helped India either win or draw a game.

Dravid at Adelaide, Laxman at Kolkata, Sehwag at Multan, Tendulkar at Headingley and Ganguly himself at Brisbane meant that the team never relied on one player to deliver the goods every single time, unlike the case in the present team when the whole burden seems to be falling on Kohli to score and ensure the team reaches a stable position in the game.

The virtue of patience

Among the current crop, only Cheteshwar Pujara seems to possess this quality in abundance

Patience can mean different things for different people, but for a cricketer to succeed in Test cricket, it is of vital importance.

Each of the players in the Ganguly-era seemed to have had it in good amounts- the ability to wait for the loose ball for several overs without losing the control in the mind.

In the present team, Cheteshwar Pujara and to an extent, Kohli look like those who possess it. The rest seem to be in a hurry to score and in the process, fail to go big.

The right captain-coach combination

Wright-Ganguly forged a partnership which took Indian cricket forward; can Shastri-Kohli do that starting now?

During his time as captain, Ganguly had. in John Wright. a coach who didn't always concur with what his captain thought or said. He had his views about certain decisions and didn't shy away from expressing them.

But the ulterior objective was the same for both: the betterment of Indian cricket and to ensure the team got the best possible result on the park.

Statistically, the Kohli-Shastri partnership may have done well after having come together just over a year ago, but from the outside, the general perception which one gets is that Shastri's views seem to go hand-in-hand with how Kohli thinks and that he perhaps does not quite put forth his own views as much as he should or could.

Perhaps, having someone who once-in-a-while gives Kohli an opinion that would make him think, make him reconsider his original plans could aid him at the moment.

The tactical acumen: Ganguly > Kohli

Ganguly's wins abroad came because he was shrewd: both in selection and decision-making

There are natural-born leaders and then there are leaders who grow with time. By his own admission, Ganguly belonged to the latter category. A tenure that began on instinctive decisions steadily grew and eventually blossomed into something extremely worthwhile.

The best example to explain a combination of both would be the Headingley Test match of 2002 when in overcast conditions Ganguly opted to bat and picked two spinners, the thinking being if India put in a big score and bat once, then both Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh could come into the game in the later half and help India win. As we know now, the plan worked like a gem.

Kohli, in that regard, seems to be a leader with qualities, but not quite at the level of his predecessor. An example of that was on view during the Lord's Test last week, when he had the option, thanks to the additional day of rain on the first day, to change the side before the toss based on prevailing conditions on the second day.

Instead, he opted for the second spinner than a fast bowler who would have been more effective and paid the price for it. Hopefully, he learns fast and helps India recover in the subsequent matches.