‘Virat Kohli wouldn't want to hand anything over’ – Nasser Hussain on split captaincy in Indian cricket

India is currently led across all formats of the game by Virat Kohli.

Virat Kohli | GettyEven if quietly, there have certainly been talks that India could try and see how the split captaincy might work out with Virat Kohli presumably remaining the Test captain but relinquishing the post for Rohit Sharma in ODIs and T20Is.

See Also: AB de Villiers likens Virat Kohli to Roger Federer, Steve Smith to Rafael Nadal

The advocators of the thought feel it would allow Kohli, also the team's best batsman across all formats, to manage his workload slightly better.

However, former England skipper Nasser Hussain believes it would be difficult for a team like India to adopt split captaincy, pointing out that Virat is an imposing character and wouldn't want to give anything away.

"It depends on the character, Virat (Kohli) is such an imposing character, all encompassing, it would be difficult for him to hand over, he wouldn't want to hand anything over. Whereas with England, we have Morgan and Root, two likable, laidback (characters)," Nasser said while speaking to sports presenter Harsha Bhogle for Cricbuzz.

Citing the workload of the coaches in modern-day cricket, Hussain also supported the idea of split coaching for international teams.

"I think more importantly it would be about coaching, Coaches have so much to do, whether you should have a split coach, they have so much on their plate.

"Just to give you a fresh perspective like Trevor Bayliss for example: he cracked white ball for England, we didn't really crack Test match cricket. So maybe two different coaches would be the right way to go."

Meanwhile, Nasser Hussain chose Eoin Morgan as his favourite white-ball captain and preferred Kane Williamson over Virat Kohli when it comes to Test captaincy.

"In red ball cricket, there are so many boxes to be ticked. I think the way Kohli has driven India, you know their fitness, change in culture, and their winning mentality is all down to Kohli.

“But if you're asking me who is my favourite, and one of the reasons you give, ambassador of the game... Kane Williamson is just... for the resources New Zealand have, their record at home, I mean India found out recently, England found out, their record at home is phenomenal.

"My best white ball captain would be Eoin Morgan, not just because he won the World Cup, but he is calm, whenever there is chaos. White ball cricket is now chaos. The batsmen now smash everyone, everywhere. My favourite white ball captain, the best white ball captain would be Morgan," Hussain opined.

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 13 May, 2020

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