Sourav Ganguly believes that Virat Kohli and he have the same attitude

Ganguly believes that Dhoni will remain captain until the T20 World Cup

Former Indian captain and president-elect of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) Sourav Ganguly believes that Indian Test captain Virat Kohli has the same attitude to win as he did when he led India.

Ganguly was speaking to The Telegraph in an exclusive interview in the build-up to tonight’s final T20 match between India and South Africa at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. He praised Kohli’s on-field attitude, which he believed would help the Indian team to put in strong performances.

“Kohli always gives the impression that he captains to win. In my book, that’s great. I played to win. I see the same attitude in Kohli. He and I have something in common,” Ganguly said.

In the second T20 between India and South Africa, specators began throwing bottles onto the field as India looked well on their way to losing the match and thus the series. Following what happened in Cuttack, Ganguly observed that fans have to be willing to accept that one of the teams is going to be on the losing side and behave with maturity.

“In sport, one team has to lose... Spectators must quickly understand that India could lose, even at home, to a top-class team like South Africa. How does hurling of missiles help anybody?” Ganguly observed.

On being asked whether MS Dhoni should continue as captain after the ODI series loss against Bangladesh and the two disappointing losses against South Africa, Ganguly believed that Dhoni would continue to be the skipper for the shorter formats until the World T20 in 2016.

According to Ganguly, Ajinkya Rahane has to get back into the squad for India’s fortunes to turn. Rahane was dropped from the T20 starting XI as Dhoni favoured Ambati Rayudu instead. Rayudu was out for a duck in each of the two T20Is played.

"For starters, include Ajinkya Rahane in the XI. No disrespect to Ambati Rayudu, but I can’t see how he gets in ahead of Rahane. Across formats, and I mean all three, the only batsman who deserves to be picked ahead of Rahane is Virat Kohli. Nobody else,” Ganguly believed.

With the passing of Jagmohan Dalmiya, the responsibilites that Ganguly has to shoulder has increased with him being chosen as the new president of the CAB. This is in addition to Ganguly being the co-owner of Indian Super League outfit Atletico de Kolkata and also a part of the three-member cricket committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). With all these commitments, it remains to be seen if Ganguly will be able to honour the contract he signed for the Legends T20 League.