Virat Kohli needs to learn to control his emotions: Bishan Singh Bedi

Virat Kohli has lost his cool on quite a few occasions recently

Legendary left-arm spinner Bishan Singh Bedi has urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to make sure that the next head coach is someone who can provide a helping hand to the highly temperamental Virat Kohli. The 26-year-old has been involved in quite a few unnecessary controversies of late, and according to the former India captain, he will need to learn to temper his emotions quickly in order to be successful at captaincy.

Kohli took over as Test captain after MS Dhoni’s retirement from the longer format following the Boxing Day Test against Australia in December last year.

"I believe Virat needs a good coach, who will be an able guide. That coach should be able to take charge of his temperament. He (Kohli) is so impulsive and it needs to change. Cricket is not kabaddi or kho-kho. If you want to play the game for a long time, you should be in control of your temperament," Bedi said.

When asked about Harbhajan Singh’s return to the Indian Test team for their upcoming series against Bangladesh, he said that it is a backward step and that performances in the IPL should not be a criterion for national team selection. However, he didn’t echo his former colleague Sunil Gavaskar’s comments about the spin cupboard in India being bare.

"I don't think so (cupboard being bare) but if it is so, have we tried to identify why is it so? It is because of this IPL we are not getting quality young spinners. A youngster bowls a dot ball and a commentator on air say 'brilliant dot ball'. I mean brilliant dot ball! Come on, how can we describe a dot ball as brilliant."

"Selectors have picked this guy Karn Sharma in Test squad for bowling four overs of IPL. I mean he has played 35-40 first class matches (73 wickets in 38 first-class matches) but what exactly has he done?" he added.

He also expressed his worry about the hyperbole surrounding the Indian youngsters who do well in the IPL, citing the examples of players like Unmukt Chand and Manan Vohra, who are all extremely talented without doubt but seem to have lost their way after impressing initially.

"I see so many confused young players now because of IPL. That Punjab opener (Manan) Vohra, Unmukt Chand, Sanju Samson all seem confused. Now there is this new guy Sarfaraz Khan. He is talented but he needs to do well in first-class cricket. You can't simply undermine the value of first-class cricket and only have IPL as a benchmark," Bedi concluded.