Team India’s newly-appointed head coach Ravi Shastri believes the current Indian team, under Virat Kohli’s leadership, can do things and achieve milestones which none of the predecessors have done in the past, news agency ANI reported on August 1.
“This team is used to doing things which other Indian teams haven’t done, overseas. Forget Australia, I am not even touching Australia. A lot of tuff cricket is coming ahead. I am very positive that this team can do things that probably no other Indian team has done,” ANI quoted Ravi Shastri as saying.
Asked about Virat Kohli’s development as Test captain, the head coach said: “I think he (Virat Kohli) is what 27-28 Test matches old now as captain, you can see a big difference.”
Earlier, former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly sparked a debate by saying ‘ Virat Kohli has not been tested as captain as yet.’
“Virat hasn’t been tested yet. Sri Lanka is probably not the strongest Test side at the moment. For me, the fans as well as for Virat Kohli himself, the yardstick will be how well his side performs in South Africa, Australia and England,” Ganguly told India Today after Team India won the first Test match against the Lankans.
Virat Kohli, who took over the captaincy in the year 2015 after MS Dhoni decided to quit Test cricket, has captained in 20 Tests ever since and has lost just one.
The Indian team is in Sri Lanka for a 3-Test match series, followed by a 5-match One Day International and then a one-off T20I to round it off. India won the first Test in under four days.
India and Sri Lanka will next lock horns in the second Test beginning August 3 at Colombo.
