Former India coach Ravi Shastri said that he was surprised that Indian team management didn’t ask Virat Kohli to lead the side in the rescheduled fifth Test against England last year when Rohit Sharma was ruled out due to Covid infection and instead, Jasprit Bumrah captained the side.
In the ongoing IPL 2023, Virat Kohli has been captaining the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) side as Faf du Plessis is playing as an impact substitute due to injury. RCB have won two out of the three games Kohli has captained them in.
The 34-year-old had stepped down as captain of the RCB captain after the 2021 edition of the tournament. During the same year, Kohli had also left captaincy in T20Is and was later removed as skipper in the ODIs as well. In January 2022, he relinquished his duties as Test captain too.
With the star batter returning in the leadership role to fill in for Du Plessis, former India head coach Ravi Shastri was asked whether one could see Kohli donning the captaincy cap in international colors as well – if the regular skipper isn't available.
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Shastri gave the example of the rescheduled fifth Test against England and said that if he had still been the coach, he would've recommended Kohli's name for captaincy.
“I thought he (Kohli) would (lead the side). Once Rohit was injured (Covid-19 infection), I thought he would be asked. If I was still there, I would've. I'm sure Rahul might have done the same thing; I don't know, I haven't spoken to him, but I would've recommended to the board that it's only fair he leads because he was part of the team that was leading 2-1 in the series. And he probably could've gotten the best out of players,” Shastri told ESPNCricinfo.
When asked whether Kohli would have any qualms about leading the team again, Shastri said that it's an “honor to lead the country.”
“Not at all. It's an honor leading your country. These are circumstances where you got to put your best foot forward. Your regular captain is injured, he's not part of the team, so seeing what's at stake, beating England in England, 2-1 up... how many teams beat England and Australia in the same year, overseas?” said Shastri further.
Under the captaincy of Jasprit Bumrah, India lost that Test match to England, who leveled the series 2-2.
