India's Chances Are Bright But England Are in Good Form: Sourav Ganguly

Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly is happy that India skipper Virat Kohli did not end up playing county cricket in his eagerness to prepare for the England tour.

Meanwhile, Kohli struggled against James Anderson when he visited England in 2014.

The batting mainstay Kohli scored 134 runs from 10 innings as India lost the five-match series 3-1. Thus, Kohli decided to play some County cricket ahead of the much-anticipated tour.

However, Ganguly is confident that Kohli will do well in England and showered heaps of praise on the prolific run-scorer.

“Kohli is a fantastic player. He will do well this time. I am happy that he did not play county cricket before the England series. I think he was eager to play county (ahead of the series) because he was panicky after not having a good tour last time around. He is too good a player to miss out this time,” Ganguly told PTI.

However, Kohli missed the much-hyped County stint with Surrey due to a shoulder injury.

Kohli, meanwhile, felt that not playing county could be a blessing in disguise as a break from the game has refreshed him completely.

The 29-year-old Delhi-based Kohli has been supremely successful in South Africa and Australia respectively, making England a territory to conquer.

Sourav Ganguly thinks both the Indian captain and the team will do well in the five-Test series.

“India’s chances are bright but England are also in good form. It will be a closely contested series,” he reckoned.

The Men in Blue will play two Twenty20 Internationals against Ireland before moving to England. There, they will square off against Eoin Morgan-led side in a three-match T20Is and ODIs each.

A five-match Test series will follow the limited-overs series which will bring down the curtains on the tour.

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