Ganguly says 'Indian cricket is far ahead than rest', Vaughan tries to correct him on Twitter
Sourav Ganguly called the Indian side the best. Former England skipper Michael Vaughan, however, had a slightly different opinion.
Indian cricket team’s fantastic 157-run victory over England in the fourth Test despite being bowled out for 191 in the first innings once again sparked the debate on whether the Virat Kohli-led side is currently the best. And this time, it found some notable validators like former India captain and current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and legendary Australia spinner Shane Warne. Both Ganguly and Warne called the Indian side the best. Former England skipper Michael Vaughan, however, had a slightly different opinion.
Ganguly said it had been a ‘great show’ to see the Indian bowling attack led by a pumped-up Jasprit Bumrah bowl out England for just 210 on the final day at The Oval and give India an unassailable 2-1 lead in the five-match series.
"The skill is the difference but the biggest difference is the absorbing power of pressure. Indian cricket is far ahead than the rest," Ganguly, the BCCI president, wrote on Twitter.
Also Read | Tendulkar, Warne, Sehwag, others laud Team India’s historic win at The Oval
Vaughan, who is very active on social media and often gets into banter with the Indian fans, decided to correct Ganguly by saying that the Indian side is only the best in Test cricket and not in the white-ball formats.
“In Test cricket... not White ball cricket,” Vaughan wrote quoting Ganguly’s tweet.
Earlier, Vaughan, in a series of tweets, however, had heaped praise on the Indian side for their victory in the Oval Test on Monday.
“Sometimes you have to accept that a Team is better than you when the pressure is on … India are better when it really matters,” read one of his tweets.
What do the ICC rankings say about India?
India are currently ranked No.2 in the ICC Test rankings behind World Test Championship winners New Zealand. In 2021, India have registered memorable victories over Australia in Melbourne and Brisbane and backed that up by defeating England at Lord’s and Oval in this series.
Vaughan’s argument does have some merit when one has a look at the ODI and T20I rankings. The Virat Kohli-led Indian side are ranked No.4 in the ODI rankings are yet to win an ICC trophy since 2013.
As far as T20I rankings are concerned, India are at the second spot behind ODI World Champions England.
Kohli, meanwhile, rated the bowling performance by India on Monday among the top three of his captaincy tenure.
"I think it's definitely among the top three bowling performances that I've witnessed as Indian captain," Kohli said after the victory.
"We knew we were in with an opportunity with Jadeja bowling from one end into the rough. The ball got scuffed up quite nicely.
"Our guys, when the ball is reversing enough, they become much more lethal and we exploited reverse swing perfectly today."
Kohli was also happy how his team bounced back after conceding a 99-run first innings lead and went on to post a series-high total of 466.
"It showed that we're not down and out, and we were not looking to survive in this game. If there's an opportunity to put the opposition under pressure, we will go for it."
