Virat Kohli was India's Test captain from 2014-2022 and white-ball captain from 2017-2021.
Ravi Shastri, the former head coach of India, has commended star batsman Virat Kohli's leadership and batting abilities, stating that he excelled in both areas while he was playing.
One of the most formidable coach-captain duos, Shastri and Kohli, created a side that was unbeatable both at home and abroad. Their alliance lasted until 2021, having started in 2017. Under Virat Kohli’s leadership, India remained the No. 1 ranked Test team in the ICC ranking for five years in a row.
India also reached the final of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy and the semi-final of the 2019 ICC World Cup. India won their maiden Test series in Australia in 2018-19 under his leadership. Kohli stepped down as India captain in all formats in 2022.
He continued to play for India as a batter and won the T20 World Cup 2024, announcing his retirement after the final, in which he was the Player of the Match. His retirement test came in May this year, leaving behind a legacy as one of the finest batters of his generation.
Kohli stands as India’s most successful Test skipper, winning 40 of the 68 games he led, 13 more than the next-best, former skipper MS Dhoni.
“It was great. He (Kohli) was the one man I identified who would lead the team, and I wanted him to lead the team. Once I took over the job and once Dhoni had finished, and he did a magnificent job," Shastri said while speaking to Sky Sports.
“First, his skills as a batter, his ability to dominate, to be in the face, to play hard but play fair, and to want to win and take the game forward. I would say Kohli, the batter in his pomp, was unbelievable because in those five years, when India was No. 1 in the red ball format, some of the innings he played in Australia, South Africa, England, and across formats were unreal," Shastri said.