Walk the talk - How Ravi Shastri found the captain in Virat Kohli

When Ravi Shastri entered the Indian dressing room during his first tenure as the Indian coach, the Indian team was in a disarray. Rocked by back to back overseas defeats in the longest format of the game, the confidence meter was right at the bottom.

Shastri took his time and turned that team into a champion Test squad that would go on to dominate all conditions over the next five years, and at the core of that was Virat Kohli.

In an interview with The Times of India, the former Indian coach spoke of the time when he took charge as the director of the team and how he found the captain in Virat Kohli.

“...once I came on board, my first challenge was to identify who could walk the talk,” explained Shastri.

He added that he found Virat Kohli as the person, who possessed the character, game and personality to fill in Dhoni’s shoes.

“We began to talk on various issues - batting techniques, the path forward, lots of things. And I think it really came to surface in Australia, when he finally bought into everything we discussed. He was absolutely ready to walk the talk - not just in the way he played his game but the way we wanted to play the team.”

“We lost that series 2-0 but I remember Alan Border walking up to me at the end of the series in Sydney and said, ‘Rav, well done man. Not many teams bat out the last day to save Test matches at colosseums’.”

Kohli and Shastri would then go on to establish India as the best touring side in the world, winning Test series across almost all conditions. The highlight of the duo would be India’s first victory in the Australian soil, which they would repeat in the next tour as well winning an enthralling game at the Gabba.