Former India Test and T20I captain Virat Kohli spoke at length about his relationship with Ravi Shastri when they were captain and head coach of the Indian team. Under their leadership, India achieved their first-ever Test series win in Australia and remained the no. 1 team in Tests for five consecutive years.
Talking on the One8 YouTube channel, Kohli recalled the Australia Test tour of 2014-15 and how one question by Ravi Shastri changed his outlook on his own batting and transformed him completely. Kohli was down on form when India toured Australia, having scored barely any runs in the five-Test series in England.
“I had a horrible series in England in 2014, and I was down,” Kohli said on the YouTube channel.
Having been brought in before to the white-ball leg of that same England tour, Shastri made his coaching debut in the Indian dressing room during this low point.
Shastri's first speech to the players was physically startling, according to Kohli.
“I literally shook. I’d never heard someone, you know, give out that intensity of voice before—like in a face-to-face capacity. He was very honest, very upfront in what he saw in me, what he wanted me to do as a player to become better.”
The former all-rounder was already thinking of specific ideas for Kohli’s game, the batter said— “He’s not just randomly giving me tips. He actually wants me to get better.”
The decisive moment came before India’s tour of Australia in late 2014. Shastri asked Kohli a direct question: “Are you scared to face the bouncer?”
Kohli declined. According to Kohli, Shastri's remark was straightforward: "You stand out so." To put it another way, take the short ball on while standing guard outside the crease.
For a batter who had been working inside the crease up until that point, the advice signified a fundamental change in technique. Kohli accepted it.
“If I were in a place where I just wanted to protect what I know, I would have been finished,” he said.
“I was standing outside the crease, length balls; I was driving on the up. I’d never done that in my career,” he added.
This helped Kohli change his batting style completely, and this resulted in Kohli scoring 692 runs with four centuries and one fifty at an average of 63.31 and a highest score of 169 runs.
For Kohli, the incident demonstrated the importance of having a coach who is prepared to be forthright when necessary. “That’s the level of trust,” he said.
For the remainder of his Test career, his willingness to forgo the security of an established method and take a chance on failure in order to improve served as the foundation.
