Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri showered praise on Virat Kohli for doing a fantastic job as a leader as well as a batter during his prime days. Kohli took over the Test captaincy from MS Dhoni on the tour of Australia in 2014, and he was able to hit the ground running.

Kohli recently announced his Test retirement on May 12 after amassing 9230 runs in 123 Test matches at an average of 46.85. In the last 69 Test innings since 2020, Kohli has managed only 2028 runs at an average of 30.72, including just three centuries.

Before 2020, Kohli accumulated 7202 runs in 141 Test innings at an average of 54.97, including 27 centuries.

Kohli also led India in 68 Test matches, winning 40, drawing 11 and losing 17, and thus he is regarded as one of India’s most successful Test captains.

“It was great. He (Kohli) was the one man I identified who would lead the team, and I wanted him to lead the team. Once I took over the job and once Dhoni had finished, and he did a magnificent job,” Shastri said while speaking to Sky Sports.

Shastri highlighted that Kohli played some brilliant knocks in the SENA countries.

“First, his skills as a batter, his ability to dominate, be in the face, play hard, but play fair, and wanting to win and take the game forward. I would say Kohli, the batter in his pomp, was unbelievable because in those five years, when India were No. 1 in the red ball format, some of the innings he played in Australia, South Africa, England, across formats were unreal,” Shastri said.

Meanwhile, India was able to draw the Anderson-Tendulkar series against England 2-2 after Virat Kohli’s retirement. Kohli would be next seen in action in the three-match ODI series against Australia.