Is Virat Kohli The New Sourav Ganguly???

[carnish]

IS VIRAT KOHLI THE NEW SOURAV GANGULY:

• Similar starts to Intl. career ... Struggling in the first few years.
• Better ODI stats than tests in the first phase of career.
• Quickest ever Indians to 4000 runs in ODIs ... soon will be quickest to 5000 and 6000 too.
• Both got to 17 ODI centuries in less than 4 years of getting their first 100.
• Both are aggressive and have that killer instinct.
• Both are born leaders.
• Kohli plays at the same position in tests where DADA played most of his career.
• Both have scored good overseas test 100s early in their test career.

I hope Kohli's career doesn't end up like Dada's did ... We certainly do not hope Kohli to fade away like Ganguly after getting the captaincy in ODIs. This is a serious thread and I hope we can have a serious discussion without people giving meaningless taunts and snide remarks. Thanks.

[vvvslaxman]

Kohli has much better overall game. He runs well between the wickets. He gets his singles well. In Ganguly's favor probably ICC tournaments? Mentally both tough. Kohli is better in maintaining his form over a period. IN the one dayers. In Tests Ganguly had a grand start. Then he lost it somewhere very badly.

[carnish]

Kohli has much better overall game. He runs well between the wickets. He gets his singles well. In Ganguly's favor probably ICC tournaments? Mentally both tough. Kohli is better in maintaining his form over a period. IN the one dayers. In Tests Ganguly had a grand start. Then he lost it somewhere very badly.

Did you watch Dada bat at the start of his career?? He is still the quickest Indian to 6000 runs in ODIs ... One cannot do that without being in good form over a period of time. Guess, he is still the 2nd or the 3rd quickest to 6000 runs in the world. Thats great stats and if I am not wrong, Ganguly too had about similar number of 100s as Kohli in the same number of games ... maybe one or 2 less. Yes, Kohli has better fitnes, better technique and runs better between wickets but thats only because Cricket in those days did not demand that so much. Even I was surprised when I was checking Ganguly's stats yesterday ... They resembled so much to what Kohli has today.

[Magneto]

Their surnames end with the 'li' sound as well. :hmmm: Ganguly had a good start to his international career ... unless you count that one game against West Indies.

[Laaloo]

Both feasts very well against mediocre attacks and struggle against quality attacks.

[vvvslaxman]

Did you watch Dada bat at the start of his career?? He is still the quickest Indian to 6000 runs in ODIs ... One cannot do that without being in good form over a period of time. Guess, he is still the 2nd or the 3rd quickest to 6000 runs in the world. Thats great stats and if I am not wrong, Ganguly too had about similar number of 100s as Kohli in the same number of games ... maybe one or 2 less. Yes, Kohli has better fitnes, better technique and runs better between wickets but thats only because Cricket in those days did not demand that so much. Even I was surprised when I was checking Ganguly's stats yesterday ... They resembled so much to what Kohli has today.

Yearwise may be true.. IN terms of number of matches Kohli is in a different league . Amla, ABDV are his competitors. Let us see who prevails. Kohli 119 matches 113 innings 4919 runs 51.77 avge 88.48 strike rate 17 centuries 26 fifties Ganguly 119 matches 114 innings 4255 runs 40.52 avge 69.81 strike rate 7 centuries 28 fifties There are some similarities. But Kohli is racing away.

[Magneto]

Both feasts very well against mediocre attacks and struggle against quality attacks.

Ganguly has normally been good against top class spinners. Kohli tends to struggle against them.

[hhunaeh]

Did he ask everyone in the team to take their shirts off? :nervous:

[Temujin Khaghan]

[Crookbond]

MS Dhoni -

"What's important is that we take the new players on their face value. It's not about filling someone's shoes. Virat is Virat Kohli, not someone else. Same way Cheteshwar Pujara. If you start comparing individuals with some great players, it only adds pressure on them. It's important that Pujara, he has a different character than the players who are gone."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-west-indies-2013-14/content/story/688183.html

[carnish]

Yearwise may be true.. IN terms of number of matches Kohli is in a different league . Amla, ABDV are his competitors. Let us see who prevails. Kohli 119 matches 113 innings 4919 runs 51.77 avge 88.48 strike rate 17 centuries 26 fifties Ganguly 119 matches 114 innings 4255 runs 40.52 avge 69.81 strike rate 7 centuries 28 fifties There are some similarities. But Kohli is racing away.

Ganguly reached 5000 in 126 innings ... Kohli will get there in about 115 innings I guess... Not much difference when you remember the quality of bowling Ganguly faced ... Donald, Pollock from South Africa ... Wasim, Waqar, Saqlain from Pakistan ... Vass, Murali from Lanka, Walsh, Ambrose, Dillon from Windies ... McGrath, Gillespie, Fleming from Australia ... You have to give it to Ganguly that most teams in those days had good bowling plus the pitches weren't as flat as they are in today's cricket.

[carnish]

Did he ask everyone in the team to take their shirts off? :nervous:

Is Rajiv Shukla Harishchandra??? I won't believe it unless Sachin says it.

[carnish]

Ganguly has normally been good against top class spinners. Kohli tends to struggle against them.

Yup, kinda true ... But then again, how many top class spinner are there in the world today?? We know Kohli played well against Ajmal. Lets see how he does in the future because Ganguly did fade away after a great start to his career.

[Magneto]

MS Dhoni - http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-west-indies-2013-14/content/story/688183.html

Though I agree to what he says here, Dhoni is the emperor of cliched statements.

[don_corleone840]

Yup' date=' kinda true ... But then again, how many top class spinner are there in the world today?? We know Kohli played well against Ajmal. Lets see how he does in the future because Ganguly did fade away after a great start to his career.[/quote'] YUP BUT KOHLI IS WAY MORE TALENTED THAN GANGULY..

[carnish]

YUP BUT KOHLI IS WAY MORE TALENTED THAN GANGULY..

But But ... Rohit Sharma is more talented than Kohli ... Talent has nothing to do until you perform. Ganguly had talent too which got wasted once he became the captain ... He got distracted and hardly ever we saw the same clean hitting from his bat nor did we see the consistency in his batting which was his hallmark in the early part of his career.

[Laaloo]

YUP BUT KOHLI IS WAY MORE TALENTED THAN GANGULY..

Most of us on ICF can see very well. You don't have to write in all caps to prove your point.

[Magneto]

Yup' date=' kinda true ... But then again, how many top class spinner are there in the world today?? We know Kohli played well against Ajmal. Lets see how he does in the future because Ganguly did fade away after a great start to his career.[/quote'] Ganguly had a great start to his Test career, and faded away after that (specially after he became captain), but again did a great job in the last 2-3 years of his Test career. Still, his average never dropped below 40. Kohli struggled in his first 5 Tests, and has since been between average and above average. Averages 41 at a time where almost every good cricketer averages more than 45. The next one year would be a crucial phase of his Test career. Ganguly started his ODI career meekly and gradually became good and continued to be mostly good. Kohli started okay okay and has now become (almost) the most feared cricketer in the world in this format. I actually think he will surpass Ganguly in ODIs and will be at the same level of Ganguly in Tests.

[carnish]

Ganguly had a great start to his Test career, and faded away after that (specially after he became captain), but again did a great job in the last 2-3 years of his Test career. Still, his average never dropped below 40. Kohli struggled in his first 5 Tests, and has since been between average and above average. Averages 41 at a time where almost every good cricketer averages more than 45. The next one year would be a crucial phase of his Test career. Ganguly started his ODI career meekly and gradually became good and continued to be mostly good. Kohli started okay okay and has now become (almost) the most feared cricketer in the world in this format. I actually think he will surpass Ganguly in ODIs and will be at the same level of Ganguly in Tests.

You keep on saying he had a good start to his test career ... He had a great opening two tests but faded away for long ... If I remember he got just 3 scores above 50 in his next 13 tests after coming back from England. On the other hand, he had a good start in ODIs barring the first 10-12 games ... Kohli on the other hand had a poorer start in ODIs as well.

[div]

Ganguly had a great start to his Test career, and faded away after that (specially after he became captain), but again did a great job in the last 2-3 years of his Test career. Still, his average never dropped below 40. Kohli struggled in his first 5 Tests, and has since been between average and above average. Averages 41 at a time where almost every good cricketer averages more than 45. The next one year would be a crucial phase of his Test career. Ganguly started his ODI career meekly and gradually became good and continued to be mostly good. Kohli started okay okay and has now become (almost) the most feared cricketer in the world in this format. I actually think he will surpass Ganguly in ODIs and will be at the same level of Ganguly in Tests.

not true, Amla was averaging 39 after his 30th test .