"I feel lucky to see Virat Kohli's batting" - Sourav Ganguly

Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly has heaped praise on Virat Kohli for his batting and dedication for the game. While the former cricketer has never shied away from praising Virat Kohli, speculations were rife that the relationship between them had turned sour after the captaincy saga in 2021.

Virat Kohli had stepped down as captain in all three formats in an unceremonious fashion when Sourav Ganguly was the BCCI president. The batting superstar had expressed his disappointment after being removed as the ODI captain before sensationally stepping down as the Test captain as well. Ganguly, however, has constantly maintained that he was not responsible for the sacking of Virat Kohli as captain.

And the former BCCI president once again expressed his admiration for the India star. In a recent interview, he heaped praise on Kohli and said that he feels lucky to watch the right-handed batsman in action. Ganguly also praised Kohli’s passion and dedication to the game.

“I feel lucky to see Virat Kohli’s batting, his passion & dedication for the game is amazing – hunger for runs is increasing every day. He works so hard on & off the field as well,” Sourav Ganguly told India  TV Cricket.

Ganguly said "I feel lucky to see Virat Kohli's batting, his passion & dedication for the game is amazing – hunger for runs is increasing every day. He works so hard on & off the field as well". [India TV Cricket] pic.twitter.com/FuvdcHba9g

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) January 29, 2024

Last month, Ganguly had clarified his role in Kohli’s sacking as the captain of the Indian team. Ganguly revealed that he asked Kohli to give up white-ball captaincy only after the latter stated that he was only interested in leading the ODI side and not the T20I side.

“I didn’t remove Virat from captaincy. I have said this several times. He (Kohli) was not interested to lead in T20Is. So, after he made that decision, I told him, if you’re not interested to lead in T20Is, it’s better if you step down from entire white-ball cricket. Let there be a white-ball captain and a red-ball captain,” Ganguly had said.

Virat Kohli to return to action:

Virat Kohli is likely to return to action next month when India take on England in the third Test of the ongoing five-match series. While the former India captain was a part of the squad for the first two Tests as well, he pulled out due to personal reasons. He is expected to join the team after the second game.

Meanwhile, Team India missed Kohli in the first Test as they suffered a 28-run loss in Hyderabad. The Rohit Sharma-led side took a huge 190-run lead in the first innings but still ended up on the losing side after failing to chase down 231. The second Test is scheduled to begin on February 2 in Vizag.