Sourav Ganguly transformed India from a nice cricketing nation to a ruthless one: Nasser Hussain

Former England captain Nasser Hussain sees Sourav Ganguly as the man who changed Indian cricket.

Former England captain Nasser Hussain sees Sourav Ganguly as the man who changed Indian cricket.

“Indian cricket changed because of Ganguly,” Hussain said during a TV show.

Hussain said that that the personality of the Indian team changed while Ganguly was captain. “Sourav was never bothered about being friends with people. He transformed them from a nice cricketing nation to a ruthless one which was only interested in winning,” he said.

Ganguly’s captaincy started in the aftermath of the match fixing fiasco in 2000. Apart from recording a number of famous series wins, India reached the final of the 2003 World Cup under Ganguly.

Hussain also said that current India captain Virat Kohli can break a number of records that the legendary Sachin Tendulkar has set. “Virat is not worried about anything else other than winning games for the country. That is his greatest asset as a captain, I feel. I thought there never will be someone to replace Sachin, but Kohli is going to break them all — just a phenomenal achievement by a phenomenal player,” said Hussain.

India start their World Cup campaign against South Africa in Southampton on Wednesday and the Indian team has been training on and off for the first game of the series. In fact, it was during the practice sessions on Saturday that Kohli injured his thumb. While it wasn’t initially clear if it was due to batting at the nets or during fielding drills, it was later confirmed that he has not sustained any serious injury.

South Africa on the other hand have a tough job at hand as they have lost both the games they have played in the World Cup. While they were thrashed in the first game by favourites and hosts England, Faf du Plessis’ men were also beaten on Sunday by Bangladesh.