Ravi Shastri admits he wants to see Virat Kohli as India’s captain when Rohit Sharma is unavailable

Shastri wanted to see Kohli leading India in the fifth rescheduled Test against England in Edgbaston after the unavailability of an injured Rohit.

Ravi Shastri admits he wants to see Virat Kohli as India’s captain when Rohit Sharma is unavailable

Ravi Shastri, Virat Kohli

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri wants Virat Kohli to take up captaincy again if the need arises in the absence of India skipper Rohit Sharma. Shastri wanted to see Kohli leading India in the fifth rescheduled Test against England in Edgbaston after the unavailability of an injured Rohit. But instead of Kohli, the management decided to go with star pacer Jasprit Bumrah.

India played the one-off Test last year after the Covid-19 outbreak in 2021 postponed the fifth match by a year. Under Kohli, India were leading the series 2-1 but later, Kohli relinquished Test captaincy after which Rohit was handed the job.

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“Once Rohit was injured, I thought Virat would captain,” Shastri told Espncricinfo on the Ravi & Raunak show. “If I was still there – I’m sure Rahul [Dravid] might have done the same thing. I have not spoken to him – I would’ve recommended to the board that it’s only fair he leads because he was captain of the team that was leading 2-1 in the series and probably could have got the best [out of the team].”

Shastri then suggested that Kohli should be given the captaincy, if, for some reason, Rohit is not able to lead the side. Shastri also said Kohli is in a very good space as opposed to last year when he was dealing with that horrible lean patch.

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Virat Kohli is the stand-in skipper of RCB

Virat Kohli is the stand-in skipper of RCB
Virat Kohli

As Faf du Plessis is nursing an injury due to which he is providing his services as a batter only, Virat Kohli has led the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in a couple of matches. He has been in impressive form in this Indian Premier League (IPL) season as compared to last year.

The 34-year-old has already collected 333 runs from eight matches and stands second on the list of most runs scored in IPL 2023. Du Plessis is occupying the top spot with 422 runs from eight matches. As per reports, Kohli will be captaining RCB for the last time when the team will lock horns with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Monday (May 1).

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