Current Indian team does play a lot of cricket, but not as much as we did: Sourav Ganguly

Former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly shared his two cents on the topic of Virat Kohli's men playing too much cricket in recent times.

In a chat with Indranil Basu and Shanivi Sadana on Sportskeeda's brand new series 'Free Hit', Sourav Ganguly spoke about how the current Indian team does play a lot of cricket, but not as much as his own team did, back during their playing days.

"They do, but even we played. IPL had just started towards the end of our careers, and if you look at the number of days of international cricket, it’s actually reduced. If you sit with the broadcasters or BCCI team, they’ll tell you," Sourav Ganguly said.

I had actually taken those stats out one day, (playing) days were actually more then, it’s lessened now. There's a very nominal difference like 8,9,10 days this way that way, but it’s not gone more," Sourav Ganguly added.

Over the last 12 months alone, the Indian team has played 41 matches. Post the 2019 World Cup exit, the Indian cricket team's next assignment was a three-match T20I and ODI series against West Indies, followed by two Test matches in the Caribbean island.

In the month after, India hosted South Africa for three T20Is and three Test matches, while Bangladesh were in India for the whole of November 2019.

India's first away assignment of 2020 was the tour of New Zealand in the January-February window, which preceded a three-ODI series against South Africa at home, which was ultimately called off due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Sourav Ganguly feels split captaincy is unnecessary

Virat Kohli has not been able to lead India to an ICC trophy yet

And, with Indian cricketers enjoying a lengthy break from the cricket field, a major source of discussion has been that of split captaincy. While there have been various schools of thought on this topic, Sourav Ganguly feels Virat Kohli should continue in all three formats.

"I don’t believe in that. If a captain is good enough to play in all three formats, he should lead, which Virat is. He’s a champion player, he’s a champion cricketer. What’s he’s achieved for India is remarkable, but having said that, he’s got to win away Test matches consistently. Hopefully he will do it against Australia," Sourav Ganguly said.

Since taking over the Test team captaincy in 2014, Kohli has led India to 33 wins from 55 matches, including a famous victory against Australia in 2018-19, apart from leading the side to the top of the Test rankings.

As for the LOI formats, Kohli has captained India in 89 ODIs with 62 wins to his name, while in the T20I format, the stylish Delhi-born batsman has captained India in 37 matches and has won 22 of those games.

However, one of the biggest achievements that has alluded Kohli is a title from the ICC tournaments, and with the World T20 slated to be held in a few months from now, one could hope the Indian captain reverses his fortunes.