Ravi Shastri heaps praise on Virat Kohli for his endorsement of test cricket

Virat Kohli has been an absolute masterclass in the recent history. The captain of Team India finished the year of 2019 as the world no. 1 test batsman in the ICC Test batting rankings, and his love for the format has been a driving force to make test cricket come back to glory in the sport. Praise from fans and pundits, now on the new year eve, an amazing compliment is straight from none other than the head coach of the team, Ravi Shastri!

Since his debut against West Indies in 2011, Kohli has become an inevitable part of the squad, and the front face of Indian cricket scene’s passion for test cricket is a big factor behind the format’s recent success in the country. Taking the role of captaincy from Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the first time in 2014, the 31 year old has been India’s most successful Test captain. The Indian team coach had all the right words to express his admiration.

“I have not seen one perfect captain. You will have captains with different strengths and weaknesses. I have not seen any perfect captain till today,” Shastri said in an interview with IANS today.

“With Virat you can see he is someone who is improving by the day. The passion, the energy, the drive he brings to the cricket field is unmatched. I have not seen any other captain bring that kind of energy onto the cricket field.” the 57 year old told reporters.

Since his debut, Kohli has earned an astounding 269 caps for the Men in Blues in test cricket, and with a batting average of 54.97, has scored a monumental 7202 runs in the format.

Shastri, who has earned 151 caps in the format for India, suggested that there are still areas to improve for Kohli.

Shastri continued: “He [Kohli] might have great strength in one area and might be lacking in another where someone else will be better. So, you have to see the end result and what he makes of his strength and how it affects the team and the opponent.”

“Tactically there are areas where by doing the job and getting the exposure he will get better. For whoever has captained in this game, there has been a learning curve,” he added.

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