Irfan Pathan equates Virat Kohli's captaincy style with Sourav Ganguly; Read here

Irfan Pathan revealed why Virat Kohli's captaincy is similar to legendary skipper Sourav Ganguly. Virat was named Team India's Test skipper in December 2014 as Mahendra Singh Dhoni had retired from red-ball cricket after 'Boxing Day' Test match against Australia in Melbourne. He was n made full-time captain in January 2017.

'He is very similar to Sourav Ganguly': Irfan Pathan

“He is very similar to Sourav Ganguly as well. A guy who backs his youngsters really, really well. Virat Kohli has that aura about him, that he goes out of his way to back youngsters. We have seen that with Rishabh Pant, we have seen press conferences, he goes and says, ‘, we need to back a guy like Rishabh Pant purely on his potential’,” said Irfan Pathan while interacting on Star Sports show 'Cricket Connected'.

“We have seen so many Under-19 India players who vanish after playing U-19 World Cup. y don’t end up fulfilling ir potential at international level which y might have. Also, we have so many cricketers playing U-19 World Cup and n going on to play for India. In between, re is a bridge which is first-class cricket", veteran all-rounder added.

Ganguly & Kohli's captaincy careers

Under Virat Kohli's reign, India were top-ranked Test side from October 2016 to May 2020. He had also led India to ir first-ever bilateral ODI series win in South Africa (2018) that were followed by maiden Test and bilateral ODI series wins in Australia later that year. He has led Men In Blue to finals of ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and semi-finals of World Cup 2019.

Ganguly was handed over captaincy in 2000 when Indian Cricket was in turmoil after that infamous match-fixing scandal broke out that included star cricketers Ajay Jadeja and former skipper Mohammad Azharuddin. Under Dada's captaincy, India had reached finals of ICC Kckout Trophy 2000, won Natwest tri-series in England by beating hosts in final that was led by Nasser Hussain, joint-winners of ICC Champions Trophy 2002 along with Sri Lanka, runners-up in 2003 World Cup, drawing Test series in Australia in 2003/04 and registering a historic ODI as well as Test series win against arch-rivals Pakistan in Pakistan, etc.

Sourav's captaincy ended in 2005 after his fallout with former Australian cricketer/captain-turned coach Greg Chappell.

READ: 'He Built A Team From Scratch': Parthiv On Why Ganguly Has An Edge Over Dhoni In Captaincy

(Im Courtesy: AP)