Former England captain Nasser Hussain has revealed that Duncan Fletcher, who was India’s coach, had earmarked Virat Kohli for greatness very early in his career. Fletcher was India’s coach from April 2011 to the end of the 2015 World Cup and he saw the rise of Virat Kohli – both as a batsman and as a leader in the side.
“I was speaking to Duncan Fletcher about him and he said ‘watch out for this lad. He has a real fight and character in him’,” Hussain said in Star Sports show ‘Cricket Connected’.
Kohli had taken over the mantle as India’s Test captain towards the end of Fletcher’s tenure and then, took over as the captain in all formats in 2017 when MS Dhoni stepped down. “He is not worried about stats. The only stats he is worried about is the win/loss column,” said Hussain.
The Indian captain has been the lynchpin of the side in all the three formats – he averages above 50 in all forms of international cricket. In Tests, he has scored 7,240 runs at an average of 53.62 and in ODIs, he has scored 11,867 runs at an average of nearly 60.
During the chat, former India opener Kris Srikkanth compared Kohli to India’s 1983 World Cup winner Kapil Dev.
“I played with Kapil Dev and played under him. I can compare Virat Kohli with Kapil Dev. I see a tremendous amount of self-belief in him,” Srikkanth said.
Laxman also levelled a huge praise on Kohli. “The one thing I admire about Virat Kohli is his intensity. One thing I was worried about was whether he will burn out quickly. But not even one session or one over he lets his intensity drop and that is really commendable,” Laxman told Star Sports.
