Virat Kohli could have continued as captain for 2 more years, feels former coach Ravi Shastri

Team India have completed a disastrous tour of South Africa – losing the Test series 2-1 and ODI series 3-0. In the aftermath of the Test series loss, Virat Kohli decided to give up the Test captaincy after he had already been relieved of the ODI captaincy just ahead of the series.

The South Africa tour was also the first one for new coach Rahul Dravid, who replaced Ravi Shastri at the helm. Former head coach Shastri believes that Kohli could have continued as the captain for a couple of more years. While reckoning he could have continued as the leader, Shastri reminded fans that his decision should be respected.

“I felt that he could easily continue for next two years, but now as he has stepped down, we should all respect his decision,” Shastri told The Indian Express on the sidelines of the Legends League Cricket in Muscat.

Confirming that the future of the team is bright, Shastri also said that Rohit Sharma should now take charge of the team in Test cricket. “First thing, the future of the team is very bright. From what I have seen in seven years, the new talent that is coming in is amazing. As far as the captain is concerned, Rohit is the captain in two formats. He was appointed vice-captain of the Test team that went to South Africa, but he couldn’t go due to injury. This means that he must be being thought of as the captain,” he said.

Before the Sough Africa tour, Kohli was sacked as the ODI captain and that created a huge row ahead of the series. Kohli and BCCI are at loggerheads after the former went on to contradict BCCI president Sourav Ganguly’s statement.

Kohli has been judged by his critics for his failure to win any ICC trophies in his tenure, but Shastri feels a captain shouldn’t be judged on World Cup wins only.

“How many top players do we have who have never even touched the World Cup? Who is the captain who has won the World Cup? Only Kapil Dev and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in India. Should we not talk about any other captain? I can speak because I have grabbed the World Cup trophy. In our country, even if you won the World Cup and lost the Test series, people would still go after the team. We all have this habit. For seven years, it was our endeavour to win as much as we can,” Shastri said.