Ravi Shastri, outgoing India coach, said Virat Kohli has been one of the great ambassadors for the game, especially in red-ball cricket. After the curtain came down on his four-year stint coaching India, Ravi Shastri said Virat Kohli has been one of the great ambassadors for cricket, especially in the longest format Test cricket.
Fresh from seeing his team finish their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 campaign with a nine-wicket win over Namibia, the outgoing coach — who was first involved with the squad as a director in 2014 — praised his team’s all-conquering past despite a disappointing end to their time in the UAE.
Ravi Shastri: Virat Kohli Has Been One Of The Great Ambassadors
Ravi Shastri, the outgoing India coach, hoped India would make a strong comeback under Rahul Dravid in the next ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in October. However, India failed to reach the semifinals of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 after suffering defeats against Pakistan and New Zealand in the Super 12 matches.
Player of the tournament in the 2014 and 2016 T20 World Cups, Virat Kohli remains the world’s leading run-scorer in T20I cricket. The run-machine has racked up 3227 runs in just 87 innings at an average of 52.05 and a strike rate of 137.91 with 29 50-plus scores. Virat Kohli led India in 50 T20Is, winning 32 and losing 16. He won bilateral T20I rubbers in Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, and Sri Lanka.
When asked about the Indian team having each other’s back, Ravi Shastri in the virtual press conference on Monday said: “We actively worked towards it. We wanted to trust in that dressing room. That’s the only way you can get each other’s back.”
“We needed communication. We wanted no finger-pointing at each other. We needed the word ‘I’ to be thrown into the dustbin and the word ‘we’ coming in. And we created a culture that had to be obeyed and followed.”
“With Virat leading the way, he’s been one of the great ambassadors for the games, especially when you look at red ball cricket, the way he’s embraced it. And it’s allowed other players on the team to follow suit. You’ve got to give credit where it’s due.”
“So it’s a team culture, which was impressed upon the team to follow, and they followed it to the hilt. They played fearless cricket round the globe,” Shastri added.
Ravi Shastri achieved back-to-back Test series wins in Australia in his tenure, but an ICC trophy eluded him and skipper Virat Kohli. Ravi Shastri also heaped praise on outgoing bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar, whose tenures too ended with the team’s World Cup campaign.
Ravi Shastri: Everything Including Bilateral Series Win Is Important
Ravi Shastri also said that everything, including bilateral series and tournaments, is important for him.
He said: “For me, everything is important. If you’re playing a big tournament, a big series, you play to win. So it’s not happened this time, but it will happen another time for this team. They’re far too talented not to get something going or get something and a big trophy in the hands soon, just like they did in Australia twice.”
“Up in England now, the way they played white-ball cricket in bilateral series. So somewhere down the line, things should go their way. The rub of the green should go their way.”
New Zealand’s victory over Afghanistan on Sunday secured the Black Caps’ progression and ended India’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals before Monday’s clash against Namibia, but they remained resolutely professional in their performance against the Namibians.
Spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin took three wickets apiece to limit Namibia to 132 for eight before half-centuries from openers Rohit Sharma, and KL Rahul helped their side cruise home, not only sending Ravi Shastri off with a win but also Virat Kohli in his final game as T20I captain.