Former India head coach Ravi Shastri feels Virat Kohli could have led the Indian Test team for at least two more years but said that everyone should respect his decision. Shastri’s tenure as India head coach ended with the 2021 T20 World Cup which was also Kohli’s last assignment as ODI captain. Kohli and Shastri shared a great partnership as India captain and coach during their tenure and have also had great camaraderie off the field.
Shastri made a bold claim that if Kohli would have led the team for two more years then there was a possibility that he would have finished with 50-60 wins as captain and according to the former coach many people won’t be able to digest it.
“Whether Virat could have continued to lead India in Tests. For sure, he could have led India for at least 2 years because next two years India would be playing at home and who is coming over – 9 and 10 jacks, going by the rankings. But he would have then made it to 50-60 wins under his captaincy and a lot of people will not be able to digest that fact,” Shastri said.
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Kohli ended his seven-year reign as India’s most successful Test captain with a memorable series win in Australia and a power pack show in England.
“Two years, he could have carried on but we should respect his decision. In any other country, this kind of record is incredible. You won against Australia, England and lost 1-2 to South Africa but still, there are debates if he should be the captain or not,” he added.
Shastri heaped praises on Kohli’s impeccable captaincy record in Test cricket and said there is only a handful of captains in history with that kind of statistics.
“Virat Kohli led India in 5-6 years in Tests and out of those, five years India was no. 1. No Indian captain has this kind of record and there are only a handful of captain world over with this kind of record. So when the most successful captain decides to step down as captain it’s an individual’s decision because his record of 40 wins is unprecedented,” he added.
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The 59-year-old further talked about Kohli’s decision to quit Test captaincy and he defends his decision by giving examples of legendary players like Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and others.
“So he only knows how much is he enjoying captaincy. When Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni were not enjoying captaincy, they left. Similarly, when Virat thought that he had won 40 matches, six years he had been leading and now he wants to enjoy his cricket. He wants to focus on his batting and release a bit of pressure and it happens with a lot of individuals.
“Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar quit captaincy to focus on their game, so Virat also had the same thing on his mind,” Shastri added.
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