Kohli learnt many things as a captain on South Africa tour, says Ravi Shastri

03/03/2018

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India cricket team head coach Ravi Shastri has applauded Virat Kohli’s captaincy skills in the recently concluded South Africa tour stating that he learnt many things. Shastri also revealed that Kohli has never been negative at any stage of a match, no matter how difficult a turn-around was.

India’s 5-1 win in the ODI series was the first time ever that the Men in Blue had ever won a series in the Rainbow nation, and Shastri believes that Kohli’s positive approach as a captain had a huge role to play in it. Refusing to believe that the Proteas were less dangerous with injury hitting during the limited-overs series, the coach has stated that the tour was a great learning curve for the Indian skipper.

“As a captain, he would have learnt heck of a lot because this was a tough tour, make no mistake about it. I’ve been going to South Africa since 1992, you tell me one South African team which is not a strong team? And when you look at their attack now, it’s as good as any in the world especially in those conditions,” said Ravi Shastri, as quoted by India Today.

After India suffered a 2-1 defeat in the Test series, they took the momentum in full swing from their consolation win on a treacherous Johannesburg pitch all the way in the ODI series. They won the series 5-1, which was followed by a 2-1 win in the T20I series. Virat Kohli scored three centuries in six ODI games, garnering a whopping total of 558 runs at a run rate of 186, playing a crucial cog in India’s wheel.

“He is a tough guy in the mind and that makes a huge difference because it spreads amongst his teammates as well. And we knew even after losing two Tests that we weren’t far behind. People might say anything, they might write anything but we give two hoots,” said Shastri.

“The captain not for one minute didn’t believe India wouldn’t win (the Johannesburg Test). That was the difference. Even at 120 for 1 he believed that India could win. Even when they came in at tea time he was very clear that “we are winning this Test match”. They (South Africa) were three down at that time. When you have that kind of self-belief, as I said it’s like a disease which spreads among the other players,” he added.

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