Virat Kohli, Ravi Shastri, Virat Kohli birthday
Ravi Shastri and crew wishes Virat Kohli a happy birthday. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

One of the main reasons for Ravi Shastri landing the Head Coach job with Indian cricket team was his equation with Virat Kohli.

The Indian skipper loves the way Shasri handles the team, and in one or the other way, Shastri was the same kind of player during his time what Kohli is today.

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'Me and Kohli Play to Win at Any Cost' - Ravi Shastri

He (Shastri) also made headlines and had his bit of success off the field as well. It’s just one of the habits that make them similar and the other common one between them is the mindset to win at any cost, that has further deepened the relationship between the coach and the captain,

“Equation is great. We are similar personalities like you mentioned. There is an element of trust in our relationship. We are both strong-minded and both play to win at all costs. We play to win. We don’t go there to do time-pass. This is not a team that is out there to fill up the numbers. We want to compete. We want to take the game forward. He is pretty similar in his mindset when it comes to that and he is in your face kind of character. With Virat Kohli what you see is what you get,” Shastri told Crciketnext.com ahead of the third ODI.

Shastri, who hadn’t applied for the post of the Head Coach at the first go, only had a go at it when the applications got reopened. He applied for it, to finally emerge out as the winner.

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It could be presumed that the applications were reopened open only to facilitate Shastri to join the race. Just before Kumble had stepped down from the post, Shastri was keeping his keen eye on the Indian team and also during the ICC Champions Trophy, where India lost the final to arch-rivals Pakistan.

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'Me and Kohli Play to Win at Any Cost' - Ravi Shastri

The Indian coach suggests he would have asked Kohli to bat first in the final,

“The last time I don’t know but I was not on the field, I was in the commentary box where if I had met him I would have told him “Why did you field against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy final? You should have batted,” he said..

Nevertheless, that is a thing of past now, and now, the relation between Kohli and Shastri is strong, which is one of the prerequisites needed to build a strong team.

Team India had crossed every hurdle put in front of them since the day Shastri had taken over as the coach, but the testing times are yet to

India will be travelling to South Africa, England, Australia and New Zealand next year and there, the form of the team will tell, whether the team India can deliver on the foreign soil or not.

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The test will start from the soil of South Africa where team India will play three Tests, six ODIs and three T20Is. In England later in the year, Men in Blue are scheduled to play three ODIs, three T20Is and five Tests. The itinerary for Australia and New Zealand tours are yet to come out.

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