Virat Kohli has been consistently under pressure for playing slow, particularly after RCB’s latest defeat where he was leading the charge for the Royal Challengers Bangalore with their top-order faltering in a rare show of Faf and Maxwell back in the hut.
With a lot of analysts going against Kohli for his slow and controlled knock, Ravi Shastri opened up on an old incident where he talked about how the game could have changed for India if Kohli would have been leading the show against England in the fifth Test.
Here is how India fell from the mantle against England in the series finale
India was in firm control of the series when it happened initially with a lead of 2-1 that saw the visitors toying with the hosts in a display of absolute magnifique. However, things changed for India when they were about to play the final Test as covid cases increased inside the bubble and the final Test had to be postponed. It was played a year later where India battled hard but eventually fell short of the finish line.
Ravi Shastri, India’s coach back in 2020, expected to see Virat Kohli as the skipper as he believed that King Kohli could have turned things around. India was pretty evenly poised in the game but lost the footing after a sudden collapse in the second innings. As things spiralled out of control, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant put in a late lunge but the damage was already done by then.
Here is what Ravi Shastri had to say about India’s defeat against England
The former Indian coach said, “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 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.”
