Former England captain Nasser Hussain has praised Rohit Sharma's leadership skills after he took Mumbai Indians to a record-extending fifth IPL title.

"His captaincy, he is calm, cool, makes the right decisions at the right time and he has had such a good time with MI that there are various cricketers around the world now, including in India, saying that maybe it is time for Virat [Kohli] to step down from T20s and let Rohit take over. His record speaks for himself," Hussain was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.

Hussain also praised Sharma's batting skills. "He is one of the great white ball players. If you look at the 50-over cricket, he has a couple of double hundreds he has had massive scores, in T20, he lost a bit of rhythm but he made runs in the final," he said.

The former England right-handed batsman also said that Sharma was one of those players who could face a dip in form but score on big occasions and could keep the opposition on their toes.

"He is a decent guy when he said I should have sacrificed my wicket for Suryakumar Yadav [in the IPL final]. He is a seriously very good player and captain."

Mumbai Indians' skipper will not be part of India's ODI and T20 squad of the Australia tour but will be play in the four-match Test series.

(With inputs from IANS)