I am here to make Kohli's life easier

Mumbai : Sourav Ganguly called Virat Kohli "the most important man in Indian cricket" and promised the captain all possible support to make his life "easier and not difficult".

Ganguly said he will be speaking to the Indian skipper to discuss the way forward."It has been a great team to be honest with the way they have played in the last three to four years.".

"Performance is the most important thing and will decide the future of Indian cricket. I have been a captain myself so I understand. Mutual respect will be there, opinions and discussions will be there and we will do what is best for the game."

After it became clear that Ganguly would be the next BCCI president, the former captain had spoken about India's inability to win the ICC events since the 2013 Champions Trophy.

He spoke on the subject again. "Yes you can say that they have not won a World Cup but you don't win a World Cup every time. Hopefully, we will support him, whatever he wants and we will make sure Indian cricket goes ahead smoothly."

Ganguly brushed aside any need for split captaincy after rumours started doing rounds post World Cup that Rohit Sharma will be made the white-ball captain.

"I don't think this question arises. India is winning at the moment. They are probably the best team in the world," he added.

Low turnouts for Tests a concern

Sourav emphasised on the fact that Test cricket needs revisit in order to make it more popular among the fans.

Ganguly said that a large number of fans turn up for the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches across the country and not for Test cricket.

"Same fans turn up for the IPL. So it is more than just the stadium. Test cricket needs revisit of how it can be popularized," when asked by reporters on Virat Kohli's suggestion of having five "strong" Test centers in the country.

Giving the example of Kolkata's Eden Gardens, the former Indian skipper said that the iconic stadium is full house for the IPL matches.

"Eden Gardens is going to host Bangladesh (for the second Test) and we don't know what will happen," he added. Speaking to reporters after India's win in the third and final Test against South Africa in Ranchi, Kohli strongly rooted for having fewer, stronger Test centres in India.

"Look, you want to keep Test cricket alive and exciting, I totally agree with the fact that we should have five Test centres at max. It can't be sporadic and spread over so many places where people turn up or they don't," Kohli said on Tuesday.

"We have been discussing this for a long time now, and in my opinion we should have five Test centres. Period."

"Teams coming to India should know that we are going to play at these five centers, these are the pitches we should expect, these are the kind of people who will come to watch... crowds. That becomes a challenge already when you're leaving the shores.

Because we go to any place, we know we have four Test matches at these venues, this is what the pitches are going to do, it is going to be full stadium, the crowd behind the team," he added.

Ganguly, 47, served as the Cricket of Bengal President from 2015, before becoming the first cricketer in 65 years to take charge as full-time BCCI President after Maharaja of Vizianagaram in 1954.