Virat Kohli needs some player to point out his mistakes: Virender Sehwag

Virat Kohli has been facing severe criticism after the series loss against South Africa and following his controversial press conference. This time it is Virender Sehwag who claims that there is no one in the team who can stand up to the India skipper and show him the mirror to see where exactly things are going wrong.

Sehwag had earlier attacked the India captain for his selection policy which too was associated with the failure to win both matches. Questions were raised about Ajinkya Rahane’s absence in both the Tests, choosing Shikhar Dhawan over KL Rahul in the first Test and leaving Bhuvneshwar Kumar out of the second Test despite a great show from him with both the bat and the ball in the Cape Town Test.

Needs advisors

“I think, Virat Kohli needs some players who can point out his mistakes on the field,” Sehwag said in a show on ‘India TV’. “Every team has four-five players who advise the skipper and help him avoid mistakes on the field. I don’t see that in the current Indian squad. There’s no one in the squad who can challenge Kohli’s selection decision in the dressing room. No player is up to his standard,” he added.

Sehwag said Kohli’s captaincy is being affected by his own expectations from other players. In a nutshell, the former Indian opener believes that Kohli expects all the players to do well in crucial match situations just like he himself does. However, it is unclear why Viru thinks that it is a cause affecting Kohli’s captaincy because captains pushing players to do their best is a positive in most cases.

“Virat Kohli has reached a level where he can play well in adverse situations and he expects the same from the rest of India squad,” the former swashbuckling opener said. “However, other players in the squad haven’t reached the stature where Kohli already is. This is affecting Kohli’s captaincy,” he further mentioned.

According to Sehwag, all Kohli wants is to see other Indian batsmen score fearlessly like him. However, he insists that one player cannot make a difference unless there is teamwork.

“Kohli is just asking them to make runs like him. And there’s nothing wrong with it. I remember, when Sachin Tendulkar was the captain, he used to ask other batsmen to score runs. If I can score, then why can’t you?”

“It’s important is to sit together and talk to make a strategy for the upcoming Test. No single player can lead you to victory, teamwork is important. Every player has to contribute,” the Nawab of Najafgarh concluded.