Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly believes that Virat Kohli panicked while preparing for the England tour. However, Dada is happy that the 29-year-old captain did not end up playing county cricket in his eagerness to be well-prepared for the UK tour.

Talking to new agency PTI, Ganguly said the tough tour of England four years ago was the reason Virat was so eager to play County Championship in England.

“Kohli is a fantastic player. He will do well this time. I am happy that he did not play county cricket before the England series. I think he was eager to play county (ahead of the series) because he was panicky after not having a good tour last time around. He is too good a player to miss out this time,” Ganguly told news agency PTI.

Indian skipper Kohli’s much-talked-about county stint with Surrey was eventually ruled out after he suffered a neck injury in an Indian Premier League match.

Speaking to media at the pre-departure press conference, Virat said he was happy that he did not play county and that he was now 110 per cent fit and ready for some tough cricket. The Delhi batsman also said he had moved on from his flop show four years ago when he could only score 134 runs in 10 Test innings with an average of 13.40.

“India’s chances are bright but England are also in good form. It will be a closely contested series,” Ganguly said.

Ganguly also expressed his concern over the future of cricket saying it scared him after England scored the historic total of 481 for the loss of six wickets in the third ODI against Australia.

Dada also supported Indian cricket great Sachin Tendulkar’s views on two new balls in ODI cricket. “Yes, two news balls do take reverse swing out of the picture because the ball doesn’t get old enough to reverse,” Ganguly said, adding, “Reverse swing is also dying because the grounds are a lot greener today. The balls don’t get scuffed up enough. They don’t get dry and rough on one side for the reverse to happen.”

Sourav Ganguly also questioned the rotation policy followed by teams like Australia.

“500 runs in 50 overs is terrible. Bowling has to find a way. I don’t understand why the best bowlers don’t play. Wasim (Akram) and Waqar (Younis) played ODIs and Tests all together, so did (Glenn) McGrath and (Brett) Lee and (Shaun) Pollock and (Allan) Donald. All played at the same time. I don’t understand having a separate set of bowlers for Tests and ODIs,” Ganguly said.

“It (481/6 in England) was a poor advert of cricket. Every over had three boundaries. You cannot have Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood not play. So the best of players have to play. Nathan Lyon mostly plays Tests, doesn’t play ODIs. Shane Warne played everything, so did Anil (Kumble) and (Muttiah) Muralitharan,” said the former Indian cricket great.