I Will Not Discuss Any Of My Players In Public: Ravi Shastri Refuses To Speak On Virat Kohli Relinquishing Test Captaincy

Former Team India head coach Ravi Shastri has denied commenting on Virat Kohli’s decision to step down from Test captaincy.

In the span of four months, Kohli has relieved himself from leading the Indian team from all formats. First, he stepped down from T20I captaincy at the conclusion of the World T20 event in November last year.

Ahead of the South Africa tour, the national selectors decided to hand over the complete white-ball captaincy duties to Rohit Sharma.

A day after India lost the Test series to South Africa 1-2, Kohli took to his official Twitter handle to announce his decision to quit the red-ball captaincy.

Many people have already spoken about Virat Kohli: Ravi Shastri

Shastri, who had amicable relations with Kohli during his tenure as the Indian team’s head coach from 2017-21, refused to give his opinion on the burning issue in Indian cricket.

“Many people have already spoken about Virat Kohli and him stepping down as the captain. I do not have the time to get into gossip and get into details,” Shastri told news agency ANI.

“I took a break after seven years in the game, I have been part of the team and I am very clear, that I do not wash dirty linen in public. The day I finished, it will be blank. I will not discuss any of my players on the public platforms, I have been very clear on this,” he added.

I did not even see a single ball: Ravi Shastri

India started the South Africa tour with the hope to win their first-ever Test series in the Rainbow Nation. In fact, they did breach Proteas’ fortress in Centurion (SuperSport Park) with a 113-run win.

But the Proteas led by Dean Elgar bounced back to win the three-match Test series 2-1 and keep their winning streak against India at home intact.

Shastri said he didn’t watch the series between South Africa and India but dismissed the criticism for the Indian Test side despite remaining in the No.1 position for five years.

“To be honest, I did not watch the series. I did not even see a single ball. I saw the result as people talk it, but I did not see a single ball,” Shastri said.

“How the standard can go down, you have been the number one Test team for five years. Nothing can be done, you cannot win every game. When you have a win ratio of 65 per cent, then what is there to worry about? You have lost one series, then all this talk?” he added.

South Africa whitewash India 3-0 in the ODI series to show their the new set of players is determined to win against any strong side in international cricket.

Also Read: If Rohit Sharma Is Fit, Why Can’t He Be The Captain In Tests Too – Ravi Shastri