Ajinkya Rahane is a must for India overseas: Sourav Ganguly to India Today

Sourav Ganguly said Graeme Smith was a little harsh when he raised questions about Virat Kohli's captaincy following India's Test series defeat to South Africa.

After leading India to nine successive Test series wins, mostly at home, Kohli preceeded over successive defeats in Cape Town and Centurion. In fact, Kohli's team selections and tactical decisions on the field have also raised questions.

Kohli benched Ajinkya Rahane, India's best overseas batsman for both the Cape Town and Centurion Tests while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, India's best bowler in the first Test, was dropped for the second.

Ganguly believes Rahane is a must for overseas Test matches.

Even as reports emerged of him replacing Rohit Sharma for the final Test in Johannesburg starting on Wednesday, Ganguly urged the team management to consider if it is an emotional call or a cricketing one.

"Ajinkya Rahane is a must for India overseas. But India need to take a call - is it an emotional call, is it a pressure call or is it a cricketing call?," Ganguly said.

It was also learnt Bhuvneshwar would mostly likely replace R Aswhin at the Wanderers where a green pitch awaits both teams. That means India will go into the Test with five pacers. Ganguly felt Ashwin was also a must in the XI because of the balance he brought with the bat: "My XI for tomorrow would be: KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat, Rahane, Rohit, Parthiv Patel, Shami Bumrah, Bhuvi, Ashwin.