Shastri shared a sneak peek into the morning session of Day 5 of the Lord’s Test in 2021.
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri on Tuesday (July 8) heaped praise on ex-skipper Virat Kohli, saying that latter will look his opposition in the eye and play hard cricket.
Shastri also shared a sneak peek into the morning session of Day 5 of the Lord’s Test in 2021, revealing that Kohli had a clear strategy in mind to bowl England out for a paltry score and win the match.
India ended the penultimate day at 181/6 with Rishabh Pant and Ishant Sharma at the crease. The wicketkeeper-batter was dismissed early on Day 5 and Ishant departed four overs later.
But Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah had other plans as they forged an 89-run stand for the ninth wicket to propel the visitors to 298 and Kohli declared, leaving England to chase 272 with almost two sessions left.
“Off the field, mellow, chilled guy. On the field, he is a beast. He’ll look you in the eye and play hard cricket. We had a chat in the morning (Day 5 Lord’s 2021) and all we said is, try and get England to chase 170, we’re winning this," Shastri said while speaking on Sky Sports.
“Every newspaper had England favorites. I picked up The Times, Michael Atherton writing England’s favorites. The Telegraph, England’s favorites. I’m reading all of this in the bus and we reached the ground and the last-wicket partnership adds another 100," Shastri added.
“There and then, I knew Kohli is going to tell them something once they go out into the huddle," Shastri said.
Although India had almost taken a defeat out of the equation, they had a chance to pull off a win against England at the iconic ground. As it turned out, the tourists bundled out the hosts for 120 in 51.5 overs to win the match by 151 runs.
“We get them out or not, but we need to make these 60 overs feel like hell for England batters. If I see anyone laughing in front of their players, see what happens. Got it? Sixty overs should feel like hell out there," Kohli said in the pre-innings huddle.
The Indian team has registered two victories over England at Lord’s in their last three visits to the hallowed venue.