The results in the last four Test matches for India under Virat Kohli has been against them. It has brought up the debate over captaincy as many feel Ajinkya Rahane would be the ideal man to lead the team after the outcome on the Australia tour.
Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen feels the captaincy debate is a distraction for Kohli which should be avoided. He said the debate is going around on every platform, from radio stations to social media.
Writing in his blog on Betway, Pietersen expressed, "I absolutely don't expect things to change, but it is impossible to avoid the continuing debate around the Indian Test match captaincy. Virat Kohli has now lost four consecutive Test matches as skipper, and has Ajinkya Rahane, who just led India to a famous series win in Australia, in his side."
"On social media, every radio station, every television channel and every news channel, there are very deep discussions around what should happen. Captaining your country is very difficult and unfortunately, this is the nature of the beast," said Pietersen.
"It's one more distraction that Kohli doesn't need but he is, of course, capable of leading his side to a victory in the second Test to quieten things down a bit," he further said.
Kohli led India on the New Zealand tour and one Test in Australia before hosting England at home. India have lost all four matches, while Rahane succeded in leading India to a 2-1 victory against Australia after the full-time skipper Kohli left the tour.
England will be playing Stuart Broad in the next match and Pietersen feels there will be a lot of pressure on the speedster to deliver. James Anderson was at his best against India in Chennai.
"Whereas Anderson has now conquered each country he has played in, the one thing that Stuart Broad hasn't done is perform in India. His record -- 10 wickets in six matches at an average of nearly 54 -- isn't spectacular at all," Pietesen said.
"Anderson and Broad are hailed as an incredible partnership, and of course they have been, but this is the difference between the two. If Broad wants to be globally recognised as a bowler that delivers in all conditions, he's actually under quite a lot of pressure to perform in the second Test," he added.
(With IANS Inputs)
