5 most confusing decisions taken by Virat Kohli as captain
39 Tests as captain before the ongoing on at The Oval. 22 victories. If stats told you a story, then Virat Kohli is already India's second best captain after MS Dhoni.
The fact is they don't do so, entirely. It is true that since taking over from Dhoni, India have looked a very improved side, especially in the fast bowling department. But there have been a few aspects of Kohli's leadership which have shown out more openly than others, the most talked out being the decisions he has made as captain in the selection of the playing XI.
India have had various leaders who have thought about the game differently. In Kohli, they have another example of someone who doesn't go by the book and thinks differently to the conventional norm while choosing sides for Test matches.
Here are five decisions he has taken so far which has left many confused.
The decision to hand Karn Sharma a debut
This came in his very first Test match as captain against Australia at Adelaide in 2014. Standing in for an injured Dhoni, Kohli stunned one and all when he handed leg-spinner Karn Sharma a Test debut despite having Ravichandran Ashwin in the squad.
It was beyond a lot of people as to how Karn was selected ahead of players more experienced than him in the team, but as we know now it was the start of the sign of things to come as far as Kohli the leader was concerned.
The leg-spinner endured a forgettable debut outing wherein the first innings saw him go for 143 runs with two wickets next to his name in 33 overs and then go for 95 runs in 16 overs with a couple of wickets in the second innings.
Ashwin was slotted back in the next game and Karn has not played a Test match since then for India.