Australia vs India 2018: Sourav Ganguly Slams Murali Vijay And KL Rahul For Their Poor Show in Perth

Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly slammed both the openers Murali Vijay and KL Rahul following their poor show in the Perth Test. The duo failed to justify their capabilities as India were reeling at 8 for two. Meanwhile, Vijay and Rahul couldn’t put up a great show in the first Test also scoring 29 and 46 runs from both the essays.

Moreover, KL Rahul had played seven overseas Tests this year and crossed fifty once. He scored 149 in the final innings of the final match in England. The right-hander also flopped in the home series against Windies scoring 0, 4 and 33 not out. On the other hand, Murali Vijay went through a terrible time in South Africa and England. He failed to score a single half-century in both the series. Vijay was dropped midway through the series in England after his poor show in the first two Tests. However, he played exceptionally well for Essex where he scored 56, 100, 85, 80 and two which helped him to get a place in the squad again.

Ganguly slams Indian openers

As a result, Sourav Ganguly came down heavily on both the opener for their latest failure. An unfortunate injury from Prithvi Shaw forced Indian National Cricket Team to give Murali Vijay and KL Rahul a chance of opening the Test. Meanwhile, Ganguly was the then captain of Indian when they secured the famous 1-1 draw in Australia in 2003-04. He also warned that time is running out for them.

“As an opener, you cannot play such shots outside the sub-continent. In Murali’s all three dismissals, he tried to play the drive shots against the new ball. You’re supposed to play defensively. You cannot just play cover drives with the new ball. Murali doesn’t have much time on his hands because he didn’t perform well in England, now here after three innings, you haven’t scored runs. He (Murali) has to be very careful,” Sourav Ganguly told IndiaTV.

Furthermore, the former left-hander applauded Indian skipper Virat Kohli. He also added that Rahul needs to learn from Kohli and deliver something good for the team.

“Rahul needs to learn from Kohli on how to play with the new ball. If you’re born to be an opener, then you have to play. You have to play defensively with the new ball around,” Ganguly concluded.