Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has said that if he had anything to do with the decision-making process, he would have handed over the Test captaincy to Virat Kohli immediately after the Australia series ended earlier this year.
The captaincy of the Indian men’s test team has been a talking point recently after the retirement of Rohit Sharma in the middle of the Indian Premier League season, after it emerged that the selectors were looking to move on from the veteran opening batter for the five-match series coming up in England. Rohit had earlier stood down from the role ahead of the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, citing his own poor form. Then Kohli too announced his retirement from the red-ball format. The BCCI then handed over the reins of the Test team to Shubman Gill.
Ravi Shastri, who had multiple stints in India’s dressing room but most crucially as the head coach from 2017-2021 when Kohli was the captain, said that that his retirement could have been handled better. “It’s when you go then, that’s when people will realize how big a player he was. I feel sad that he is gone and the way he is gone,” Shastri is quoted as saying by Sony Sports in a promo video for a docu-series released on Wednesday. “I think it could have been handled better. There should have been more communication. If I had anything to do with it, I would have made him captain straightaway after Australia,” the former India captain added.
🗣️ “𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘴𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦…” – Ravi Shastri
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Kohli ended his test career with 9230 runs in 123 matches with an average of 46.85 and 30 centuries. His form too had tapered off in Australia, after starting the series with a century in Perth as India took a 1-0 lead under Jasprit Bumrah’s captaincy. Kohli struggled in the channel outside stump, repeatedly edging behind the stumps. But since he retired, there have been calls for him reconsider his decision, while he has also been hailed for making Test cricket a priority right through his career.
“Stats don’t do justice. The way he was an ambassador for Test cricket, especially the way he played overseas. I am glad, I was part of it,” Shastri added further.
Chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar had said, while announcing the Test squad for England, that Kohli reached out in April to inform the BCCI that he was done with Test cricket. “Virat reached out early April and said he wants to finish,” Agarkar said. “We’ve seen him give 200% to every ball that he plays, even when he is not batting or he’s in the field. He probably felt that he had given everything that he had and if he can’t keep up to the standards that he set for himself over the years, and how good he has been, and maybe it was time for him. It has come from him. You’ve got to respect that.”
Gill-led India will begin the Test series in Leeds on June 20th, in what is a fresh start to a new World Test Championship cycle.