Harbhajan Singh still has issues with Virat Kohli’s captaincy

Virat Kohli hardly does anything wrong on the cricket field. Be it as a batsman or as a captain, he has a Midas’ Touch, turning everything into gold. In the just-concluded Test match at Trent Bridge that India won by 203 runs, Kohli roared both with his batting and with his captaincy, putting even legends like Sir Donald Bradman behind. But his captaincy still gives one scope for criticism and it hasn’t skipped the eyes of offspinner Harbhajan Singh.

Singh, who is currently in England for commentary, has expressed his displeasure over the fact that Kohli has changed his team’s playing XI in all the games since 2015 when he officially took over. The 29-year-old has led them in 38 Test matches so far with 38 different playing XI combinations and Singh feels the number is far too high though he is also of the opinion that it is fine as long as they get the results.

In 38 Tests, Kohli has led India to victory 22 times and is the second most successful captain now after his immediate predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni who has 27 wins under his belt. The win at Trent Bridge saw Kohli surpassing former captain Sourav Ganguly who has 21 wins from 49 matches.

“Personally I think 38 changes in 38 Tests is too much. But every captain is different, and every team’s dynamics are different. Maybe they want horses for courses, and it works for them,” Singh was quoted by the Times of India as saying.
“They were close to winning the series in South Africa. They have turned things here in England. If the captain believes in it, the management agrees and players accept it, then what you and I think doesn’t matter.”

Bhajji praises Kohli the batsman

Bhajji however, lavishly praised for Kohli as a batsman. The Indian captain has scored 200 runs in a single Test match twice in the series so far and has 440 runs from three matches, way ahead of the second rank-holder from either side. He was adjudged the Man of the Match in the third Test.

“…Kohli is not swayed by pace or movement, he bats out of the crease, he covers the stumps, plays close to the body and plays late, so he has worked hard at getting better in English conditions,” he said.

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