'India in 2012 had a way better team than the one today': Swann reckons Kohli not in same league as Waugh, Lloyd

Former England spinner Graeme Swann reckons the current Indian team still has a long way to go before being called the greatest Indian team of all time. Swann's comments came after former India captain Sunil Gavaskar called the Virat Kohli-led unit one of the best produced by India in history, comparing it to the team in 1986 which won the Benson & Hedges World Series of Cricket. Swann, however, did not agree with Gavaskar, and instead feels the Indian team that was led by MS Dhoni in 2012 and the one that England beat 2-1 is the best he's seen.

On the topic of Kohli's India being one of the strongest teams of all time, Gavaskar compared the current Indian unit to the Australian team that dominated world cricket in the late 1990s under Steve Waugh and the West Indies team that was led by Clive Lloyd in the 1970s and 1980s. On the contrary, Swann believes it's too soon to put Kohli in the same bracket as Waugh or Lloyd.

"The Indian team I played against in 2012 was way better than this. I mean, how we beat India back then I’d never know. They are a fine team, I think they have got a good leader. I think it’s very difficult to put Virat Kohli in the same category as Clive Lloyd, Steve Waugh because a captain is judged on how well his team does," Swann said during the lunch interval

India, currently the second-ranked Test team behind New Zealand is coming off a historic 2-1 Test series win in Australia, the second time they've done so in a row. Still, Swann reckons the current Australian team is no comparison to the Australian teams of the past and hence he would have his reservations whether this is the best Indian team of all time. Having said that, Swann showed faith in Kohli's leadership and backed him to become one of the all-time great captains.

"They are a very good team at the moment but I don't think the Australian team that India went and beat two months ago was anywhere near the Australian team, that say MS Dhoni had to face or Sachin Tendulkar or Ganguly," Swann said.

"So you have to take it with a pinch of salt. He's a very good captain, with a very good team under his belt, but we should leave it at that now. I don't think we should get too carried away but he’s certainly on track to be probably one of the all-time greats."