England vs India 2018: Ahead of the 4th Test, Sourav Ganguly sends an important reminder to the Indian team

What's the story?

Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has played a crucial role in changing the face of Indian cricket, helping in bringing about a sea change in attitude. Under him, India started to play more aggressively on the field.

Fast-forward to the present day, India's current captain Virat Kohli follows the nearly same aggressive mentality. Ahead of the fourth England-India Test match, Ganguly spoke upon the chances Kohli and his men chances of making it big in the game.

In case you didn't know...

In the first Test, all Indian batsmen with the exception of Kohli failed to deliver, as a result of which they fell short by 31 runs. They were then massively outplayed in the second game, having not crossed a total of 135 in either inning, while England scored nearly 400 in the only inning they had to play – thereby winning the match by an innings and 159 runs.

India then bounced back brilliantly in the third Test. Kohli continued his golden run with the bat as others followed suit to some measure. With the bowlers doing their job as well, India eventually won by 203 runs.

The details

In his column for the Times of India, Ganguly wrote:

“India staged a forceful and decisive comeback at Trent Bridge which has opened up the series and the pressure is fully back on England. It was India’s mindset which stood out as they confronted England and caught Root and company unawares.”

He duly acknowledged the efforts made by the Indian openers Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul, for the way they held steady in the initial stages of the game. It was important to see off the new ball without harm – something which was lacking from India's part in the first two games, where the openers got dismissed early, exposing the rest of the lot to the early swing.

“They and sent a message to the dressing room that batsmen can stay for long if they wanted to,” he explained, before going on to appreciate the remainder of the batting unit for taking it from there and carrying forward.

He then went on to credit the bowlers Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma for bowling in the right areas, adding that the rewards they reaped were a result of their accuracy in length.

Ganguly opined that the upcoming game would be a “mental battle”, at the same time reminding the Indians not to get complacent. According to him, though India under Kohli have managed to loosen England's grasp over them, there was still more to be done. He added that India can afford to look confident, but still they shouldn't “go ahead and overdo it”.

What's next?

England have won the toss and chosen to bat first, in the fourth Test which has just gotten underway. India have managed to pull a couple of breakthroughs, sending Jennings and Root back to the pavilion before England crossed 20 runs. The match is being held at Southampton.