Ganguly played catalyst Kohli has taken Team India to another level: Lloyd

‘Ganguly was the catalyst’

“Ganguly was the catalyst. Ganguly, and there was the duo of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. Ganguly is one of the most successful Indian Test captains to date, winning 21 out of 49 matches with 11 of them coming away from home.

"...Now if you're bringing a quality spinner and you've got a couple of pacemen, you're in business, not only in India, you're in business worldwide. And I think Ganguly has been a massive influence on Indian cricket. I think he's been the catalyst for Indian cricket to be a worldwide force," he said.

‘Kohli fears nothing’

In the current times, the former English left-hander said Kohli has taken the team to another level. "Apart from his (Kohli) greatness as a player he is a great leader. He's a fighter and he fears nothing. That is so important. He fears nothing.

"I think my own view about Kohli is that he is there to win matches. He's not there to accumulate runs for himself, he is there to win matches and 'I will lead by example because I'm the best'," Lloyd said.

Lloyd lauds Ben Stokes

Lloyd was also all praise for Ben Stokes and put him in the list of great all-rounders such as Gary Sobers, Ian Botham, Andrew Flintoff and Kapil Dev.

"He's a really fine cricketer and in that all-round category of the greats, from England point of view, Botham, Flintoff, Kapil Dev in India and all-time Windies great Gary Sobers. He has cemented himself in that place."

Stokes scored 176 from 356 balls in the first innings of the second Test against West Indies under difficult conditions, only to change gears in the second essay to smash the fastest Test fifty by an English opener.

Stokes, who climbed to the number one position in the ICC all-rounder rankings, also claimed three wickets to help his side win by 113 runs and tie the three-match series 1-1.

England vs West Indies

Reflecting on the match, the English commentator felt that the Jason Holder-led side messed it up in the first hour's play after they put England in by bowling terribly.

"The call at that point was a right one with the dampness around. It did rain for three weeks without any sunshine. It was a cloudy day. But in the first hour, they bowled terribly.

"It was shocking. They bowled outside the line and should have made them play. Wests Indies did not really recover from that," he said.

The third and final Test is beginning on Friday.

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