Team India skipper Virat Kohli has lauded the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly after his side whitewashed Bangladesh 2-0 in the Test series.
Kohli praised Ganguly for injecting a winning mentality during his time as the Indian skipper and said that his team is trying to carry forward that legacy.
"The idea is to establish yourself in the middle and we have learnt to stand up and give it back. It all started with Dada's team and we are just carrying it forward," Virat claimed after India’s very first pink-ball Test victory at Eden Gardens.
Soon after Kohli's statement, former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar pointed out that the current "Men In Blue" captain that India cruised to victories in the 1970s and 1980s as well.
"This is a fantastic win but I would like to make a point. The Indian captain said that this thing started in 2000 with Dada's (Ganguly's) team. I know Dada is the BCCI President, so maybe Kohli wanted to say nice things about him. But India were also winning in the '70s and '80s. He wasn't born then," Gavaskar said during the post-match show on Star Sports.
Even though Kohli's comments have brought on a lot of controversies, however, former Team India opener Gautam Gambhir voiced his support towards Virat's comments on Ganguly’s side.
"See that's Virat Kohli's thinking and there is no doubt that we started winning more away from home under Sourav Ganguly. Even previous Indian captains and almost every Indian captain has been dominant."
"From Gavaskar Ji's time or Kapil Dev's time till now India has been a dominant force under every captain at home but under Ganguly's leadership, we started winning overseas," Gambhir quoted as saying by Times Now.
"If you talk from the point of view of winning away from home, I agree with Virat Kohli on what he said - that we are carrying forward Ganguly's legacy as captain," he added.
India’s will be taking on New Zealand in a two-match Test series in February 2020.
