Virat Kohli tinkers a bit too much at times as a captain, feels Nasser Hussain

Since his Indian debut in 2008, Virat Kohli with his batting prowess converted himself into one of world’s best batsman, with a never-seen-before consistency in modern-day cricket. Not only does Kohli average over 50 across all formats, but his ability to chase a big total has made him one of the best cricketers. 

However, if there is one aspect which has been highly criticised, it is the Indian’s captaincy, since taking over from MS Dhoni. Opining on the same, Nasser Hussain called Kohli a ‘tinker man’ before adding that he makes a lot of changes, which becomes a bit too much. In the past, the 31-year-old was constantly criticised for changing his playing XI in Test matches before finding his perfect XI. 

“I call him the tinker man. Every over, you have to change the field, he’s running up changing things, he tinkers a little bit too much. Selection - I know people say what’s that got to do with Kohli, but you got to have a selection plan,” Hussain said on the Cricket Connected Show on Star Sports, reported Hindustan Times. 

The former English skipper also cited India’s World Cup campaign as another example, where the Men in Blue struggled with selection issues. Ahead of the competition, they dropped their No.4 Ambati Rayudu for the Tamil Nadu all-rounder Vijay Shankar, which did not go too well for them. However, purely in terms of records, Hussain admitted that Kohli is right up there as one of the best. 

“I think India did a lot of things well, I’m not sure selection is one of them. Coming to a World Cup, not knowing who your No. 4 is when you got so many great batsmen in India, their selection issues that need to be sorted out, but the whole point of captaincy is to win games of cricket. And if you look at Kohli’s record as a captain, it is right up there with the best there’s ever been.”

The 52-year-old former cricketer also acknowledged the Delhi cricketer’s knack of chasing games off for the country. He added that Kohli revels in a big run-chase but also stated that there is room for improvement. The 31-year-old averages a staggering 141.85 in successful chases of 300-plus targets, with 993 runs in just ten innings. 

“If you ask me to name one person, I want in a run chase in white-ball cricket, it would be Kohli because he sees that winning target and that’s all he’s interested in. So, he’s his own man, he’s got better at certain things or still certain areas I’d like to see Kohli improve on,” Hussain concluded.