Imposing Virat can’t share captaincy, split captaincy won’t work for India: Hussain

PTI, May 13, 2020, 4:34 PM IST

New Delhi: An “imposing character” like Virat Kohli will not be comfortable sharing power and hence split captaincy is not something that will work in Indian cricket, feels former England skipper Nasser Hussain.

However, he does feel that the Indian team management often messes up selections as they did in that World Cup semi-final against New Zealand, and split coaching might be a good idea.

Hussain’s view on selection was echoed by India’s twin World Cup hero Yuvraj Singh, who wants to know how the current Indian coaching staff headed by Ravi Shastri is dealing with players of different mindsets.

Asked if split captaincy can work in India as it did in England, Hussain didn’t sound confident.

“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 (Eoin) Morgan and (Joe) Root, two likeable, laidback (characters),” Hussain said during a podcast on Cricbuzz.

However, split coaching is not a bad idea, said Hussain, a respected voice in world cricket.

“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,” he opined.

“One thing they don’t do well is selection like they couldn’t get a number 4 despite having so many great batsmen. Unlike New Zealand, who have only that many players to choose from, India have so much of talent, that after two failures, a new player comes in and then a next,” he said.