Former
India head coach Ravi Shastri said Virat Kohli could have continued to lead
India for at least two more years. Shastri, who had a successful stint with the
Indian team as a coach, said Kohli would have ended with 50-60 wins as a
captain in Test cricket had he been at the helm.

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Under
Kohli, the Indian team reached the peak of the ICC Test rankings and won the
maiden Test series in Australia in 2019. The recently concluded Cape Town Test in South Africa was
Kohli’s last match as a captain. Since taking over the captaincy from former
India captain MS Dhoni in 2015, Kohli led India in 68 Tests and won 40 matches. His winning percentage of 58.82 was the best by an Indian skipper.

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“Whether
Virat could have continued to lead India in Tests. For sure, he could have led
India for at least 2 years because next two years India would be playing at
home and who is coming over – 9 and 10 jacks, going by the rankings. But he
would have then made it to 50-60 wins under his captaincy and a lot of people
will not be able to digest that fact,” said Shastri in a chat with India
Today.

“Two
years, he could have carried on but we should respect his decision. In any
other country, this kind of record is incredible. You won against Australia,
England and lost 1-2 to South Africa but still, there are debates if he should
be the captain or not,” he added.

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Shastri
and Kohli shared a friendly bond during their tenures which led to India
winning the Test series in Australia, New Zealand and leading 2-1 in England in
a postponed series in 2021. Though the pair could not win an ICC trophy, they were
successful in making Test cricket India’s staple game.

‘Kohli was no. 1 captain in the world’

Asked
about Kohli’s decision to leave the Test captaincy, Shastri said former
cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev gave up on captaincy to focus on
their game, so Kohli also wants to concentrate on his batting and enjoy
cricket.

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 “Virat Kohli led India in 5-6 years in Tests
and out of those, five years India was no. 1. No Indian captain has this kind
of record and there are only a handful of captains over the world with this
kind of record. So when the most successful captain decides to step down as
captain it’s an individual’s decision because his record of 40 wins is
unprecedented.”

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“So
he only knows how much is he enjoying captaincy. When Sachin Tendulkar and MS
Dhoni were not enjoying captaincy, they left. Similarly, when Virat thought
that he had won 40 matches, six years he had been leading and now he wants to
enjoy his cricket. He wants to focus on his batting and release a bit of
pressure and it happens with a lot of individuals.”

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“Sunil
Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar quit captaincy to focus on their game,
so Virat also had the same thing on his mind,” Shastri added.