A BCCI poderia ter adiado a aposentadoria de Virat Kohli ao fazer dele o capitão de teste da Índia, diz Ravi Shastri

It’s been exactly a month since Virat Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket. With the India vs England series getting closer and closer, the talks about Kohli and his absence continue. Ravi Shastri, India’s former head coach and a friend of Kohli, thinks that the star batter should have been here in England.

Lack of communication?

He knows for a fact that he’ll be missed. Not just by India but the entire cricketing community, who are supporters of Test cricket. But Shastri thinks it could have all been avoided. He isn’t pleased about Kohli’s retirement. How it all transpired. While he didn’t expand on it, it’s clear that he knows something the general public doesn’t.

Shastri thinks the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) could have handled the situation better. He suggests that there was a lack of communication between Kohli and the board. The star batter had talked with Chairman of Selectors Ajit Agarkar about his decision to retire a month before announcing his decision and Agarkar had tried to persuade him to rethink his decision. But Kohli still went ahead.

“It’s when you go (retire), then people realise how big a player you are. I feel sad that he’s gone, the way he’s gone. I think it could have been handled better. There should have been more communication,” Shastri told SonyLIV.

BCCI should have made Kohli India’s Test captain

The former coach believes that after Rohit Sharma’s poor run in Australia, Kohli should have been named captain of India’s Test team. We all know how well Kohli was when he was leading in Test cricket. And Shastri believes that would have brought the best out of Kohli and he would have been part of India’s tour of England.

If I had anything to do with it, I would have made him captain straightaway after Australia,” he added.

Virat Kohli’s Test record under Ravi Shastri

Test matches played: 39
Won: 22
Lost: 13
Drawn: 4
Win% (home): 79%
Win% (away): 44%