New Delhi:Former England captain Nasser Hussain on Wednesday commended former skipper Sourav Ganguly for making the Indian cricket team a tough unit.
During an interview with Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz, the former cricketer said that India had fantastic players and were considered as a nice side but the change in attitude was fueled after Ganguly took charge.
''Before Sourav, India was a nice team, great players, Azhar, Javagal Srinath, they had some fantastic players, but before Sourav, they were a nice team. Very sort of 'good morning, how you doing', you know a bit like you Harsha to be honest (light-hearted tone), very nice (and) pleasant. Ganguly made them a tough team. Waiting for the toss for Ganguly, it is half past 10, 10.31 in England, 'where is Ganguly' Steve Waugh, me, everyone (light-hearted tone),'' Nasser said.
Ganguly captained India in 146 ODIs and 49 Tests, out of which the team emerged victorious on 76 and 21 occasions respectively.
Hussain also lauded current India captain Virat Kohli for changing the culture of the Indian unit in terms of fitness and leading to become a world-beating force.
''I think the way Kohli has driven India, you know their fitness, change in culture, and their winning mentality is all down to Kohli,'' he said.
However, when asked to pick his favourite leader from the current generation Nasser picked Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson and called him a great ambassador of the game.He also mentioned that Kane Williamson is his favourite captain in red ball cricket.
"But if you're asking me who is my favourite, and one of the reasons you give, ambassador of the gameKane Williamson is just for the resources New Zealand have, their record at home, I mean India found out recently, England found out, their record at home is phenomenal. Their record as a nation playing cricket is phenomenal," the former England captain said.
''The image of Kane when he got to know after the World Cup final, you're the player of the tournament and he turns to the ladies and the ICC and 'me ah' that sort of self-depreciating' are you sure I'm the player of the tournament'. I think Kane Williamson, the way he handles himself, is a great ambassador of our game,'' he added.
Hussain picked Eoin Morgan, who piloted England to their maiden 50-over World Cup triumph, as his favourite white-ball captain going around.
''My best white ball captain would be Eoin Morgan, not just because he won the World Cup, but he is calm, whenever there is chaos. White ball cricket is now chaos. The batsmen now smash everyone, everywhere. My favourite white ball captain, the best white ball captain would be Morgan,'' he said.
Split captaincy won't work for India, feels Nasser Hussain
New Delhi:Former England captain Nasser Hussain feels split captaincy won't work in Indian cricket, saying that skipper Virat Kohli is such a 'such an imposing character' that he will not be comfortable in sharing power.
There have been talks around split-captaincy in the Indian camp since last year, but during an interview with Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz, the former cricketer didn't sound confident about it.
"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," Nasser Hussain told Cricbuzz.
England have adopted that split captaincy pattern from past few years with Eoin Morgan as a leader in the limited-overs squad and Joe Root in Tests.
Hussain said that split captaincy worked in England because Root and Morgan are likeable laidback characters.
However, Hussain mentioned that split coaching is not a bad idea in cricket, with coaches having so much on their plate in all three formats.
"...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.
Former English cricketer also feel that the Indian team management often messes up selections as they did in that semi-final against New Zealand in 2019 World Cup.
"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.(UNI)
