KARACHI: Pakistan’s flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi has said that Virat Kohli is “too emotional” as a leader and it will take him some time to fill in the captaincy void left by Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s retirement from Test cricket.

Afridi said he was a big fan of Kohli’s cricketing skills but the Indian needed to improve as a leader of the pack. Kohli is set to lead the team in the final Test of the series against Australia, starting on Jan 6 in Sydney.

“I felt disappointed to learn about Dhoni’s retirement decision because he is a fighting character and has been a great leader for Indian cricket. He has led many times from the front for them,” he said.

“Dhoni, has led them well in all formats, has changed the face of Indian cricket and took them to the pinnacle of success and his captaincy will be missed by the Indian team,” Afridi told a TV channel.

Ironically, it was under Dhoni’s captaincy that India defeated Pakistan led by Afridi in the semi-final of the 2011 World Cup at Mohali with India going on to win the title.

Afridi, who is presently captain of the Pakistan T20 team, announced earlier this month that he would retire from One-day Internationals after the World Cup. He said that he had no intentions of changing his decision no matter how he performed in the World Cup.

“Even if I have a great World Cup I will not take back my retirement decision because it is final and I took it after much thought. I have seen a lot of top players being forced to retire in not very pleasant circumstances and I don’t want that happening to me,” Afridi, known for his explosive batting in limited-overs games, added.

Afridi, a veteran of 389 One-day Internationals said no one in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had contacted him after he announced his decision to retire after the World Cup.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2015

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