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“Some people couldn’t digest Kohli’s success,” Ravi Shastri takes a dig at critics of former Indian captain

Virat Kohli resigned as the test captain of India in the middle of South Africa tour

The former Indian coach Ravi Shastri has taken a dig at the detractors of Virat Kohli, saying they could not digest the fact that Kohli had already become India’s most successful test captain and was on his way of crossing many significant landmarks.

Kohli stepped down as the test captain of India with as many as 40 wins under his belt and he stepped down at a time when people were expecting him to continue. Although BCCI had sacked Kohli as the ODI captain, they had no plans to remove him as captain in the longest format of the game for at least a couple of more years.

All the tough overseas assignments were done and most of India’s upcoming test matches were at home against some of the lower-ranked teams. It was not difficult for Kohli to cross the tally of Steve Waugh, one of the greatest captains of all time, who won 41 test matches for Australia under his captaincy.

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But, Kohli surprisngly dropped his resignation message to the BCCI in the middle of the South Africa tour, letting the secretary Jay Shah know over a phone call that he didn’t intend to continue as the captain of India in any format of the game anymore.

Ravi Shastri, who is in Oman at the moment where he is overseeing the organisation of Legends League Cricket (LLC), said if Kohli was the test captain of any other country, with the kind of cricket the test team was playing under him, there was not going to be even an argument about his captaincy.

But, in India, despite producing the kind of results that Kohli produced as the test captain, there were still question marks over his leadership position.

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Ravi Shastri thinks Kohli could have completed 50 test match victories as captain

Ravi Shastri, while talking to Sports Tak correspondent Rahul Rawat, said he doesn’t disrespect any team, but it’s a fact that the teams that are going to tour India in the upcoming home season are lower ranked teams and India are expected to win those games given their potential in test cricket at the moment.

Kohli, if he was still the test captain, could have taken his tally of test match victories as captain to 50, a feat which only one captain in the history of the game has been able to achieve and that’s Graeme Smith of South Africa.

Shastri, however, insisted if it was Kohli’s wish not to continue with the captaincy and rather focus on his batting, it should be respected.

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Abhishek

I write a bit on cricket and I am more interested in technical and tactical side of the game, rather than bravado.

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