Virat Kohli Plays To Situation, Is Brilliant In Run Chases: Nasser Hussain

Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh) [India] : Following India’s seven-wicket win against Bangladesh in the World Cup on Thursday, former England captain Nasser Hussain lauded Rohit Sharma’s captaincy and batting while also praising Virat Kohli’s century.

Speaking on Star Sports show ‘Follow the Blues’, Nasser Hussain shared his views on Rohit Sharma’s batting in World Cups.

“I have thought for a long time, he’s one of the best white ball batters there has ever been. His record is up there with the best, he’s done it in World Cups. His record against Bangladesh is magnificent, his pull shot, at one stage we showed a graphic – he was averaging 400 in the pull shot in the last couple of years. He got out of it in the end but not before he had done a lot of damage.

“The most important thing I like is intent, there is real intent, for a while they played a bit of timid Cricket in the T20 World Cup in Australia and they lost to England in Adelaide in that semi-final. This looks like a different top three, the way Rohit, Shubman and Virat are playing is going to put a lot of top-order bowlers under pressure,” Hussain said.

He spoke on Rohit Sharma’s captaincy in this World Cup and said that the Men in Blue skipper rotated his bowlers to get a wicket.

“…the way you have to think about bowlers are key moments in the games. Kuldeep was bowling really well, and he realised the way Siraj had come back with those cross-seam deliveries and then he went to Siraj, he got the wicket, and then he went back to Kuldeep, Jadeja and Bumrah. He just rotated his bowlers and as Dinesh Karthik said in commentary, it wasn’t just the rotation, he was always rotating, looking to get a wicket. So, a bit like his batting where he has the attacking option, it’s the same with his captaincy,” Hussain said.

He also shared his views on Virat Kohli’s century.

“Kohli always plays (to) the situation and that’s why he is brilliant in run chases. He sees the situation out there in front of him…On a pitch like this if you wanted to go into another gear, if he was chasing 350, Kohli would’ve gone into another gear, but he was just making sure India got over the line as he often does,” Hussain concluded.