'While MS Dhoni was captain...' - Ravi Shastri opens up on seeing Virat Kohli's captaincy potential

Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri has hailed Indian batsman Virat Kohli. In an interaction with English broadcaster Michael Atherton, Shastri termed Virat as an ‘uncut diamond’ and also opened up on his passion for Test cricket.

The duo of Shastri and Virat made India a Test powerhouse and witnessed immense success in the red-ball format both at home and away from home.

Ravi Shastri said (as quoted by News18), “There was a lot of individual brilliance but I wanted to see team brilliance. I wanted to win and to make Test cricket paramount and identified an uncut diamond in Virat Kohli.”

Further speaking in the conversation with Michael Atherton, Shastri focused on Virat’s willingness to play the Test format. Shastri said that it was a free hand for all the batsmen to play in the nets. He was the first guy to come to the Nets, which shows his dedication to the game.

Ravi Shastri lauds Virat Kohli’s dedication for Test cricket

Ravi Shastri, who was the team director fo India in 2014, said, “While (MS) Dhoni was my captain, my eye was on him (Kohli). I told him very early in my second month: ‘It’ll take time but watch, observe, be ready (for the captaincy)’.

“Kohli was fully engaged with Test cricket. He was passionate. He was prepared to do the hard yards and was prepared to play tough cricket, which fitted my way of thinking. When you play Australia or Pakistan you’ve got to have a ‘no complaints’, ‘no excuses’ attitude.”

“We were on the same page and wanted a battery of fast bowlers. He was ready for a scrap. He wanted to play hard. We made it a free-for-all in the nets. You were allowed to bounce the shit out of anyone. He was the first guy to embrace it; he was quite prepared to look ugly in the nets and the mindset changed.”

While Virat Kohli‘s dedication towards Test cricket is not hidden from his fans, the right-handed batsman has missed the whole IND vs ENG five-match Test series. Kohli first missed out on the first two Test matches and later extended his break for three more games and now will be out of the whole Test series. Virat will be missing out on the series due to personal reasons.

Virat Kohli is having a brilliant time in the current era of international cricket. Virat has been scoring runs in all three formats for the last 1.5 years. Virat has nearly dominated world cricket for almost ten years. However, the modern master was unable to capture any hundreds between September 2019 and 202.

Over these three years, Virat Kohli was able to get starts but was unable to convert them into hundreds. But Kohli was able to break his hundreds-long drought against Afghanistan at the Asia Cup 2022. The moment many Indian fans had been yearning for most was when Virat scored his 71st international century against the Afghan team.

Virat Kohli had a fantastic year in 2023 and scored 2048 runs from 35 games with eight centuries at an average of 66.06. Kohli scored the most international centuries in 2023 and also became the first batsman to slam 50 ODI tons. Kohli achieved the record during the ODI World Cup 2023.

Virat Kohli, who in 2023 had an incredible year. With 1377 runs from 27 games at the end of 2023, Kohli ranked among the top scorers in the ODI format.

Virat Kohli is very important for the Indian cricket team in the current era of cricket. Kohli has currently scored 80 international centuries and also is one of the main players to surpass Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 100 international centuries.

The IND vs ENG Test series is currently levelled at 1-1 and the Indian team will be hoping to win the third Test match and gain a lead in the series.