Ravi Shastri has said that he believed that Virat Kohli should’ve captained the Indian team in the rescheduled fifth Test against England in 2022 instead of Jasprit Bumrah after Rohit Sharma was ruled out due to injury and Covid infection.
India was leading the series 2-1 in 2021 when the fifth Test had to be postponed due to Covid cases in the Indian camp on the day of the match. When the Test was rescheduled in 2022, things had changed a lot as Rohit Sharma was leading India as Virat Kohli had stepped down in January of that year.
England was captained by Ben Stokes, and was on a roll, defeating New Zealand by 3-0 in the Test series before.
However, Rohit Sharma contracted Covid-19 and missed the practice match as well and then was ruled out of the Test match due to regulations instead, Jasprit Bumrah made his debut as India’s Test captain.
Thanks to brilliant batting by Jonny Bairstow and spirited bowling, England managed to win the Test and drew the series 2-2.
If I Was Still There, I Would’ve Asked Virat Kohli To Captain The Indian Team In Place Of Rohit Sharma- Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri opined on that game and said that if he would have been a coach at that time and Rohit Sharma would’ve become unavailable, he’d have asked Virat Kohli to captain the side instead of Bumrah.
He gave the example of how Kohli is leading RCB in the IPL 2023. Virat Kohli is leading the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) team in the present IPL 2023, with Faf du Plessis filling in as an injury replacement. In the three games Kohli has captained RCB, they have won two of them.
After the 2021 edition of the competition, the 34-year-old relinquished his position as RCB captain. Kohli was also relieved of his T20I captaincy that same year, and he later lost his ODI captaincy as well. He also gave up his position as Test captain in January 2022.
“I thought he (Kohli) would (lead the side). Once Rohit was injured (positive Covid-19 report), 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,” Shastri said in an interview on ESPNCricinfo.
He was also asked if Kohli would’ve had any doubts on captaining the side keeping the mind the circumstances in which he had stepped down.
Shastri added: “Not at all. It’s an honour 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?”