India vs England: Sourav Ganguly brands Ravi Shastri’s ‘best travelling team’ comment as immature

Shastri had earlier said that the current Indian team has managed to win matches overseas, something which previous Indian teams failed to do. This didn’t go down well with Ganguly, who lashed out at Shastri for making ‘immature comments’.

Calling his comments as immature, former India captain Sourav Ganguly hit out at head coach Ravi Shastri for comparing Indian teams of different eras, on Friday.

Shastri had earlier said that the current Indian team has managed to win matches overseas, something which previous Indian teams failed to do. Shastri had said: “The endeavour of this team is to travel well, compete and win. If you look at the last three years, we have won nine matches overseas and three series. I can’t see any other Indian team in the last 15-20 years that has had the same run in such a short time, and you have had some great players playing in those series.”

This didn’t go down well with Ganguly, who lashed out at Shastri for making ‘immature comments’.

“These are immature comments. You should not pay much attention to what Ravi Shastri says. What he says and when he says things, no one knows. Whichever generation is playing for India, be it Chetan Sharma’s or when I played for India or when Dhoni played or now when Virat is playing, we are all the ‘Indian Team’,” Ganguly told India TV.

“We all just represent the team at different times. It is not necessary to compare one generation or the other. I can say a lot more but it would not be correct. Virat Kohli and his players are working hard to perform for India; it would not be nice for me to say anything,” he added.

Earlier, former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar too hit out at Shastri, reminding him of team’s overseas victories during his time.

“All I can say is that no Indian team has won in Sri Lanka for a long time. But we have won in the West Indies, in England, Test matches in Australia and South Africa,” Gavsakar told India Today.

“What I can say is that teams in 1980s have won in England and West Indies. Rahul Dravid also won series in West Indies in 2005, in England in 2007 and captained when India beat South Africa for the first time (in South Africa).”

“Dravid gets very little credit for his leadership and his team’s wins. There have been teams who have won overseas,” he added.