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

Irfan Pathan revealed why Virat Kohli's captaincy is similar to the legendary skipper Sourav Ganguly. Virat was named the Team India's Test skipper in December 2014 as Mahendra Singh Dhoni had retired from red-ball cricket after the 'Boxing Day' Test match against Australia in Melbourne. He was then made the 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 the youngsters. We have seen that with Rishabh Pant, we have seen the press conferences, he goes and says, ‘No, we need to back a guy like Rishabh Pant purely on his potential’,” said Irfan Pathan while interacting on the Star Sports show 'Cricket Connected'.

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

Ganguly & Kohli's captaincy careers

Under Virat Kohli's reign, India were the top-ranked Test side from October 2016 to May 2020. He had also led India to their 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 the Men In Blue to the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and semi-finals of World Cup 2019.

Ganguly was handed over the captaincy in 2000 when the 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 the finals of ICC Knockout Trophy 2000, won the Natwest tri-series in England by beating the hosts in the final that was led by Nasser Hussain, joint-winners of ICC Champions Trophy 2002 along with Sri Lanka, runners-up in the 2003 World Cup, drawing the 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

(Image Courtesy: AP)