Former Indian pacer, Ashish Nehra reckons that Virat Kohli and not even close to being compared with Australia of the 2000s. Under Kohli’s leadership, India went on to register their maiden series win in Australia in 2018-19, achieving the feat after trying for seven decades. However, it can’t be discounted that the absence of Steve Smith and David Warner due to ball-tampering has often been reasoned as India’s series win. 

During a recent chat with former Indian opener, Aakash Chopra, Nehra said, “This Indian team has to still cover a lot of distance in order to match up with that Australia team (led by Steve Waugh and then Ricky Ponting). You are talking about an Australian team which won three consecutive World Cups and before that reached the final in 1996, won 18-19 Test matches in home and away conditions.”

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Nehra also explained that tinkering the team combination every now and then doesn’t suit the environment of the team. He elaborated on how team management had handled Rishabh Pant’s career so far.

Ashish Nehra said, “KL Rahul is playing on the fifth position and Pant, the person you were preparing to succeed MS Dhoni, is serving drinks. I know he (Pant) has missed his chances and there is no doubt about it but then you have kept him in the team because you saw the potential in him at 22-23 years. Today also when we talk about the number five and six slots in the Indian ODI side, then we are not sure about it.”

Nehra, who played 17 Tests, 120 ODIs, and 27 T20Is for India, feels Kohli’s captaincy is still a work in progress.

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The former pacer elaborated, “Virat Kohli as a player needs no recognition as his career graph tells the entire story. Kohli as a player has done amazingly well. In captaincy, I still feel he is a work in progress. I can say he is a little bit of an impulsive captain.”