xtratime Logo

Former India captain believes Kohli’s team can still go on to clinch series

[caption id="attachment_32932" align="alignnone" width="580"] Former India captain Sourav Ganguly still beleives India can clinch series against Australia.[/caption] Internet Desk: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Saturday lauded Australian spinners Nathan Lyon and Steven O’Keefe for winning the first test match at Pune. “Indians did not expcted the Australian spinners to bowl so well on that Pune wicket. It’s not because of the track but the fact is both the Australian bowlers bowled consistently well on the Pune track,” said Ganguly to reporters at the Eden Gardens. The left hander called for more sporting pitches for the remaining three Test matches of the Border-Gavaskar series. The star studded Indian batting line was completely decimated by the Aussie spinners on a dry and deteriorating surface in Pune. The hosts lasted only 74 overs, scoring 105 and 107 respectively in both innings. Aussie left-arm spinner Steve O'Keefe mesmerized the Indian batsmen to return with a match winning figure of 12-70 while off-spinner Nathan Lyon also bagged 5 wickets. “Both the Australian spinners kept the pressure on the Indian batsman. After a long time since 2001 I saw an Australian spinner bowling well on the turning track here. There were turning tracks during the series against South Africa, New Zealand and England but they were all smashed by Kohli and his team,” commented Ganguly about O’Keefe. Ganguly though is of the opinion that India will bounce back from this defeat and fight back harder in the next match in Bangalore. "India will definitely come back in the series. In Sri Lanka, they were 0-1 down, but came back to win the series. India was 1-0 up in England but lost 3-1 to lose the series. This team has shown in the past that they are capable of bouncing back in the series,” predicted the former India captain. Ganguly also said that India would be surprised the way Australian spinners bowled in this match. "India must have been surprised with the way Australia's spinners bowled. It's not the first time India prepared turners. They believed their own spinners were more accurate than the Aussie spinners. The way the two Australian spinners bowled will make India think for the rest of the series," he added. Lastly on being compared to the 2001 team and Virat’s current team, Ganguly said, “I don’t want to compare and it’s not fair as well. But yes that team had champions all over. This team is a young Australian team and has shown they have the hunger to do well here.”