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.

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The decision to hand Karn Sharma a debut

Sharma was picked out of the blue for the Adelaide Test match

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.

Dropping Bhuvneshwar Kumar in South Africa

How Bhuvneshwar Kumar was not picked for the Centurion Test will remain a mystery

India went to South Africa at the start of 2018, with possibly their best chance to win a series there since their re-admission to international cricket. They might have lost the first Test match at Cape Town, but they did find a few new stars, one of whom was Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

The all-rounder claimed match figures of 7 for 120 with the ball and also contributed 25 important runs to steady the ship with Hardik Pandya in the first innings.

And yet, in the following match at Centurion, Kohli and co. found a reason to drop him and get Ishant Sharma in his place in the side. It was as a bizarre a call as you could think of.

Ajinkya Rahane and warming the bench

Rahane was reinstated after Rohit Sharma flopped in South Africa

If dropping Bhuvneshwar Kumar on that tour of South Africa was confusing, then not playing arguably the team's most reliable batsman overseas- Ajinkya Rahane- was even more strange.

Rohit Sharma came into the tour of South Africa after having scored a hundred against Sri Lanka at home and based on current form was drafted in the XI for the first Test.

Scores of 11 and 10 followed and you thought surely Rahane needs to be looked at again. But, no. he was given another go at Centurion and scores of 10 and 47 followed.

Everyone, the media, the supporters could not believe Rahane was warming the bench in South Africa and finally after India had no way back in the series, they drafted him in the squad and on a tough pitch, he repaid by making 9 and 48 which helped India set up a consolation win at Johannesburg.

Not playing Cheteshwar Pujara at Edgbaston

Pujara was not picked for the Edgbaston Test

Ever since Kohli took over as Test captain, the one player whose place has always come under scrutiny within the management has been that of Pujara. The right-hander, who plays only Test cricket for India and values it greatly, has constantly faced issues where he has had to be picked and dropped in the team.

The latest example was seen earlier in the ongoing series when Pujara was not picked for the first Test at Edgbaston with India preferring KL Rahul at 3.

After he endured two forgettable outings was only when Pujara was reinstated and he repaid the faith a few weeks later at Nottingham and also at Southampton.

Was picking Hanuma Vihari the right decision?

Vihari was handed a Test debut on Friday

After having lost the series at Southampton, India opted to pick the extra batsman at The Oval for the final Test of the series. Karun Nair was picked in the squad for the first three Test matches and was retained for the final two matches as well.

For those matches, India also got in Hanuma Vihari and Prithvi Shaw and on Friday, the management, for reasons best known to them picked Vihari ahead of Nair to perplex everybody.

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar was in particular extremely critical of the decision to not provide Nair with an opportunity if India were to go for the additional batsman.

"Karun Nair has every right to ask the team management what he has done wrong. He deserves an answer. 'Why am I not picked?' If you are going to pick an extra batsman, which they should have done from the first Test itself, and if you haven't given him the opportunity, he deserves an answer." he said.