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.” Also Read: Ravi Shastri questions performance of past greats while defending poor show in England 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. Also Read: Sunil Gavaskar reminds Ravi Shastri of India’s past overseas record “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.<doc-sep>Image Source : GETTY IMAGES Ravi Shastri in a file image. Heading into the fifth and final Test of the five-match series against England, India will be looking to garner some pride having already lost the series after their famed batting failed yet again under the pressure of a fourth-innings chase in Southampton. While the team has deservedly faced the flak of fans for their non-performance, the side's Head coach Ravi Shastri, on Tuesday, rated the team the "best travelling side in last 15 years", although being factually incorrect. When former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly was asked on IndiaTV's 'Cricket Ki Baat' show, what his thoughts were on Shastri's statement, the Bengal Tiger dismissed the former all-rounder's comments as being rather immature. "It is immature of him to talk like this. You shouldn't pay too much attention to his words. What he says and when he says no one knows. I don't want us to focus too much on his statement. All I want is that India plays good cricket in this last Test. It is not possible to compare players and teams from different eras with each other. We all have played for the Indian team, whether it is Dhoni or Dravid or others, we all have represented the same Indian team. We support Virat Kohli and the rest of the boys and I wish the Indian side good luck for the fifth and final Test of the series starting at The Oval on September 7," said Dada. India under Ganguly drew a Test series in England (2002) and Australia (2003-04) apart from winning a Test in the West Indies and a series in Pakistan. Under Rahul Dravid, India won two series in the West Indies (2006) and England (2007) apart from winning a Test in South Africa. When Anil Kumble was made the captain, India bagged a Test match win in Perth for the first time and under Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the team won a series in New Zealand and also for the only time drew a series in South Africa. Kohli and Co., on the contrary, have failed to win a series in South Africa followed by the ongoing debacle in England. (With IANS inputs)<doc-sep>Former India captain Sourav Ganguly feels head coach Ravi Shastri and batting coach Sanjay Bangar should be held accountable for the team's results and repeated batting failures on overseas Test tours. Barring Virat Kohli, none of the other batsmen in the lineup has managed to score runs on a consistent basis which is why India have conceded the series 3-1 to England, Ganguly said. "Regarding Ravi Shastri, he has to be held accountable for the results along with Sanjay Bangar regarding why only one batsman is performing whereas others seem to have taken backward steps. Unless these questions are answered an overseas series win in the three countries (South Africa, England, Australia) looks impossible for India," Ganguly told IndiaTV in an exclusive interview. Series win over India as big as winning Ashes: England coach Trevor Bayliss England clinched the five-match series after beating India by 60 runs in the fourth Test on Sunday. Chasing 245 for victory, India's innings folded for 184 in the fourth innings with Kohli once again top-scoring with 58 runs. Mohammad Azharuddin blames India's top-order failure for series loss vs England Kohli has so far scored 544 runs in the series and is the leading run-getter from either side. The likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have scored in patches but the biggest disappointment have been India's openers, who have been miserable throughout the series. Sunil Gavaskar raises questions on Virat Kohli's captaincy in Test cricket Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul have managed just 158 and 113 runs respectively in four games while Murali Vijay, who scored just 26 runs in two games, was dropped from the squad after the third Test. Such poor performances have become mainly because the batsmen are down on confidence, reasons Ganguly. Ashwin failed to take wickets when it mattered the most: Harbhajan Singh "This batting lineup hasn't been making runs for a long time now. If you look at India's overseas performances from 2011 until now, they have lost every big series. When Virat Kohli is at the crease it seems that he is playing against totally different bowlers as compared to when the other batsmen are batting. India haven't used Hardik Pandya as much as they should have: Gavaskar "I believe that the batting ability of the current players has gone down. There are a lot of reasons for this. Firstly, the players are short of confidence, whether you look at (Cheteshwar) Pujara or (Ajinkya) Rahane, you'll find that four years ago, the latter was matching Kohli shot-by-shot in Adelaide which is not the case at the moment. The same goes for Pujara too", Ganguly went on to add. Indian batsmen will fare better in Australia than in England: Shane Watson India opted to play a lone spinner in Ravichandran Ashwin but the offie was far from his best in the match managing just 3 wickets in over 50 overs in total. To make matters worse, England off-spinner Moeen Ali managed to bag 9 wickets in the match including a five-wicket haul in India's first innings. India vs England: 'Kohli sublime as batsman but not so hot as captain' But Ganguly is still of the opinion that Ashwin was the right choice at Southampton as the pitch wasn't suited for two spinners. "In my opinion, the selection for the fourth Test was alright. The ball was turning from the footmarks outside the right-hander's off-stump. The ball wasn't turning at right-angles when Ali was bowling to the left-handed Pant. "Jadeja's record outside India is not great anyway and the pitch wasn't suited for two spinners. A spinner will have to use the rough patches when playing outside India. Virat Kohli will have to talk to Ashwin about why he looks so impatient," the 46-year-old said. Moeen kept it simple and targeted the rough outside the off-stump to the right-hander while Ashwin just tried too many variations which is why he failed to take more wickets, feels Ganguly. "He is bowling six different deliveries in an over. Ability-wise Moeen Ali is not better than Ashwin. Rather Ashwin is twice as good as Ali as a spinner. But Ali keeps his bowling simple. On the other hand, Ashwin keeps experimenting with the doosra, wrong'un and leg-spin rather than utilising the rough. Sometimes in Test cricket, you have to become boring to win matches," Dada concluded.<doc-sep>It was immature of Ravi Shastri to compare players of different eras: Sourav Ganguly Shastri had called this team as the best in last 15-20 years. India’s head coach Ravi Shastri is not known to mince his words when it comes to talking in front of media and he did the same a couple of days ago. He was of the opinion that none of the previous Indian teams has enjoyed so much success overseas compared to the current one. This comment from him has come under the scanner and after Sunil Gavaskar, even Sourav Ganguly has taken a dig at him by calling ‘immature’ for comparing the players of different eras. Though Team India hasn’t been able to win their last couple of overseas series, they have managed to run the teams in their own den. Their inability to close the game in crunch situations has hurt them so far but India’s record away from home is improving nevertheless. Shastri also pointed out the same and said that this team has won nine matches in last three years which no other Indian team has managed to in last 15-20 years. “If you see the record of this team, India has won nine matches overseas in last three years. This is the run which none of the previous Indian teams has managed in last 15-20 years in which some of the greats were also present, he had said. Don’t take him seriously Sourav Ganguly laughed when asked about the same to him while speaking to India TV and went on to say that one shouldn’t take his comments seriously. He completely ignored it and hoped that Team India does well in the final Test match and end the tour on a high. “These are all immatured talks. You don’t take him seriously. Nobody knows what and when he will say anything. I wouldn’t like to talk much on this and only hope that it is a last Test and India plays well. There should be no comparison between different generations. All of them played for India only and all the 15 players give their best on the ground. We support them and hope that Virat Kohli and Co. plays well and win the match for India,” he said. The final Test between England and India will commence on Friday at the Kennington Oval in London. [interaction id=”5b90e8eed191c340480f9b88″] Keep following CricTracker for more news and updates.<doc-sep>
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has been very critical of the Indian team's performance and has criticized the batsmen for not performing when it mattered the most. He also said that coach Ravi Shastri and batting coach Sanjay Bangar have to be answerable for India's failure to win the series and if they fail to do so, the dreams of an overseas win for the team will remain a dream in the near future. Talking about the batsmen, Ganguly pointed out that senior batsmen Cheteswar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane are not their own self as they were four years ago when both of them batted really well and matched Kohli for every single shot he played. While Kohli has made it look like he is playing against totally different bowlers as compared to when the other batsmen, the likes of Pujara and Rahane are totally down on confidence. "I believe that the batting ability of the current players has gone down. There are a lot of reasons for this. Firstly, the players are short of confidence, whether you look at (Cheteshwar) Pujara or (Ajinkya) Rahane, you'll find that four years ago, the latter was matching Kohli shot-by-shot in Adelaide which is not the case at the moment. The same goes for Pujara too," the former India captain was quoted as saying by Aaj Tak. Ganguly also added that both Shastri and Bangar have to be answerable for India's shambolic performances. Shastri has to be accountable for the results while Bangar has to be answerable on why Kohli looks at ease while his teammates are struggling to score runs. "Regarding Ravi Shastri, he has to be held accountable for the results along with Sanjay Bangar regarding why only one batsman is performing whereas others seem to have taken backward steps. Unless these questions are answered an overseas series win in the three countries looks impossible for India," he added.