5 things Virat Kohli needs to improve to become the best of the best

At the age of 29, Virat Kohli is already a cricketing legend. Praised as one of the best batsmen, Kohli has a 50+ average in all formats of the game. He has the 5th highest number of hundreds (56 centuries) in international cricket along with four IPL hundreds.

According to many, Kohli will break most batting records by the time he retires. He has transitioned his aggressive batting approach on to his captaincy as well. His captaincy, as long as it frightens the opponents and is within the fair play, can only make the game more intriguing.

Has he perfected the game? Can he be called the master of the game? Isn't there any aspect that he needs to improve? The answer is, he is only near-perfect.

Here are the five things Virat Kohli need to improve to become an all-time great:

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#1 Being considerate of his running partners

Virat Kohli is one of the finest athletes this game has ever produced. However, as far as running between the wickets is concerned, he has to be considerate of his partner.

The superstar of Indian cricket isn't one of those mediocre runners in between the wickets who get satisfied by settling for a single run. Rather, he always attempts to convert singles into doubles, doubles into triples, and only a few batsmen can run as fast as Kohli in between wickets.

Due to his over-enthusiasm, many a time we have seen the Indian captain making wrong calls, and often this confusion between two batsmen leads to a run-out. It not only has gotten him run-out but also led to well-set players being out.

Shikhar Dhawan expressed his disappointment on the field when a risky Kohli call got him run-out in South Africa. Similarly, Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been involved in seven run-outs so far.

The Indian captain would love to improve his awareness about his partners at the other end when he calls for quick runs.

#2 Slip catching

Kohli hasn't had a good time in the slip cordon; far too many drops

Though Virat Kohli is one of the best fielders in world cricket, his catching at slips has been well below-par. Kohli's famous drop of Brendon McCullum led to the Kiwi scoring his maiden triple hundred in Tests. With the help of the 300, Brendon McCullum denied a rare Indian win in New Zealand in 2014.

Kohli's drop of Alastair Cook helped the English opener score a match-winning 95 in the 3rd Test at Southampton the very same year. His drop-rate as a Captain has been alarmingly high. He has dropped close to 50% of the catches at slips as the captain of the Indian team.

Why is Kohli dropping so many slip catches? All good slips catchers have been patient personalities who let the cherry come to them. Kohli is always zealous to make a pressing influence on the game all the time; slip catching is the exact opposite.

Kohli must learn the art of slip catching to make more impact in the Test matches.

#3 Choosing the right XI as a Captain

Virat Kohli stunned the world by dropping Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the 2nd test

Kohli has led India in 35 Test matches and has fielded different combinations of teams in all the matches. Since he took over the captaincy from Mahendra Singh Dhoni in 2014 end, he has adopted a “horses for courses” policy. Though his policy helped India clinch the No.1 spot in Test matches, the strategy did not help India in South Africa. They lost the series 2-1 to South Africa.

His decision to drop Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the 2nd Test was baffling as he was the best performer both with the bat and the ball in the first game. Nobody could make any logical sense out of the decision. To the critics' pleasure, India lost badly in the 2nd Test too. Virat Kohli came under immense criticism for leaving out the pacer of the playing eleven.

His decision to stick with Rohit Sharma instead of Ajinkya Rahane backfired as Rohit failed miserably in the first two Tests. Rohit's replacement, Rahane, played sensibly in the third game to bail out India from dire straits. His innings played a big part in India winning the 3rd Test.

Kohli must learn the art of choosing the ideal eleven to better the opponent in testing conditions.

#4 His not-so-impressive record in knock-out ODI games

Amir flummoxed Kohli with his brilliant swing bowling in ICC Champions Trophy finals

Kohli hasn't lived up to his expectation in ODI knockout games. Since his debut in 2008, Kohli has played 14 knockout games.

He has scored a total of 345 runs with a paltry average of 31.36. His knockout average is way lesser than his career ODI average of 58.10. He hasn't scored a century in any of these 14 games. He has only two fifties to his name in those 14 fixtures.

If we analyze the numbers in detail, his performance in the finals is shambolic. In the eight tournament finals he has played, he has averaged only 22 runs per game with his highest being just 43.

His failure in the Champions Trophy final against Pakistan and World Cup semi-final against Australia is something which the Indian captain would want to forget.

He should take a leaf out of Tendulkar's career to improve his knockout performance. Sachin has one of the most impressive knockout records in the history of the game. In 40 knockout finals, Tendulkar averaged close to 55 runs per match, amassing 1851 runs including 6 tons.

#5 Controlled Aggression

Kohli's relationship with the press is not-so-friendly

Kohli's aggression made him the person who he is now. Should he let go his aggression? The answer is simple. All he needs to do is to control it.

Virat got involved in a few on-field incidents with the Australian fans and they booed him when India toured Australia last time. He is representing the nation and not just himself. His aggression is not only affecting his reputation, but also the nation's.

Recently, Kohli lost his temper while addressing the media after the Centurion loss. He should try to control his anger at least with the public and the press to become a better role-model for youngsters.

In an interview, Rahul Dravid highlighted one key point on Virat's aggression. Virat's aggression is being copied by kids who are just 12 or 13 years old. They are trying to emulate Virat's aggression which may not the right thing to do at such a tender age.

Here's what Rahul Dravid actually said about @imVkohli and cricketers being aggressive.Video courtesy: Bangalore Literature Festival pic.twitter.com/TYMT5b7cBu

— The Field (@thefield_in) October 31, 2017