In his long career in international cricket, Virat Kohli has gone on to become one of the greatest batters of the modern era. However, in his early day playing for India, Kohli’s career was plagued by inconsistent runs with the bat. When India toured England for a five-Test series in 2014, Kohli was criticised for his poor form at the crease. Already vice-captain in white-ball cricket by then, Kohli could only manage 134 runs in 10 innings in the Tests at an average of 13.40.
However, according to Ravi Shastri, with whom Kohli would later go on to form a fruitful partnership in the national team after the former took over as head coach, the young batter was already showing signs of greatness at the time.
“In the way of thinking, I think we are both pretty aggressive. We wanted to play to win, we realised very quickly that to win you need to take 20 wickets, so you go to start picking and identifying players who will help you do that. It might take time. By deciding to play aggressive and fearless cricket, it meant that at times you would lose games but once you got one across the line, it’s infectious; I recognsied that early,” Shastri said while speaking on Star Sports during the lunch break show.
Reminiscing about Kohli’s younger days in the Indian team, Shastri said, “In fact, even during that England tour (in 2014), I used to do a lot of shows in England. I used to do ‘The Verdict’ with Bob Willis and Charles Colville, so I got a chance to see him closely.
“And I was seeing the way he was getting out. But I knew deep down that that’s the uncut diamond. He is the guy you’ve got to go after. The moment MS finishes, he is the guy to lead the side, and lead from the front where his personality should take over.”
