How the Kohli-Shastri partnership turned India into a real force in overseas conditions

Hindustan Times

12-05-2025

Mumbai: When Virat Kohli reflects on his Test career, he will always look back at his partnership with coach Ravi Shastri with great pride. The two proved to be a perfect fit -- aggressive, not ready to take a backward step, showing no hesitation in taking strong decisions.
Extroverts, they would provoke the opposition, even ruffle the feathers in their own dressing room to keep players on their toes, but their success means the Kohli-Shastri era will go down as the golden period of India's Test team — the high point being the 2018-19 series win in Australia , becoming the first Asian team to beat Australia at home.
Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket on Monday, marking an end to an illustrious 14-year-old career, and Shastri, who served as India's head coach during most of Kohli's captaincy tenure, lauded the impact the duo had together.
'Can't believe you are done. You are a modern-day GIANT and were a fantastic ambassador for Test match cricket in every way you played and captained. Thank you for the lasting memories you've given to everyone, and to me in particular. It's something I will cherish for life. Go well, champ,' Shastri posted on social media.
For any player to be able to realise his full potential, the right support system is the key. Kohli enjoyed the backing he got from Shastri & Co.
The two first worked together when the former India all-rounder took over the director of Indian cricket team for a period of eight months from India's tour of England till the 2015 World Cup. Kohli was coming off a disastrous 2014 tour of England where he averaged 13.40 in five Tests.
Shastri helped take the pressure off Kohli. The results were instantaneous. On the tour of Australia in 2014-15, the batsman hit four centuries in eight innings at an average of 86.50. In the middle of the series, he was appointed the Test team's captain.
'You can't pinpoint one thing, you got to have minds that are similar when it comes to the way forward, what's your end goal, how you want to achieve it, how you want to build your team, I think a lot of things fell in place from the beginning and hence that kind of success,' Shastri had told HT when asked about their partnership during an interview on the eve of Kohli's 100th Test match.
In July 2017, the Kohli-Shastri team restored when the Mumbaikar was appointed as the head coach of Indian cricket team. For the connoisseurs of Test cricket, a thrilling period followed. It was the start of a tough cycle that saw India play away tours against South Africa, England and Australia.
Doing well overseas is what defines Kohli's term. As captain, he was driven by the desire to chase victories in SENA countries and he led by example in that quest. The 2018-19 tour to Australia will go down as Kohli's finest hour as captain when he captained India to a historic series win.
Shastri helped his captain galvanize the troops by changing their mindset. At home, they routed all oppositions but they took everyone by surprise with their aggressive body language during the 2017-18 South Africa series.
After losing the first two Tests, Kohli led his side to victory in the third Test on a minefield of a pitch at Johannesburg's Wanderers Stadium, where the ball threatened the limbs and head of the batters.
'We wanted to compete; there was no point in going overseas and then just accepting the inevitable. You go there and say, it is the same pitch for both sides, let's compete. I mean, winning and losing keeps happening but give it your best shot. Get yourself in a position to win games, which means you have to take 20 wickets, you know all that kind of stuff,' said Shastri, who credited the transformation to the fitness culture initiated by Kohli. It was one area where the previous India players had always lagged behind when up against the South Africans, Australians, New Zealanders or Englishmen.
'It was always about the challenge for Kohli and wanting to compete; the level of fitness... how he changed suddenly from what he was in 2008-09 – 2012 to the sudden transformation in the last five to six years in his work ethic, his diet, the kind of sacrifices he made.'
One of the factors in the team's success was its planning and strategy. An astute brain, Shastri backed Kohli with his tactical inputs to outwit oppositions.
As a batter he played his best cricket from 2016 to 2019. His tremendous work ethic was backed by thorough analysis.
'He asked honest answers of his coaches, he would want to be watched very carefully, even for little, little things. He would see if his footwork was right, his balance was right, little things when sometimes when you are out on the road for so long you forget things which can creep in without your realising.
'I would only tell him something if there was a need to tell him, or if you had answer to what you were going to tell him to do. It is pointless to say, this is not right, but what is the solution to it, if you don't have the solution then there's no point saying it,' Shastri said in the interview, while picking Kohli's 123 in the second Test of the 2018-19 series at Perth as the batsman's finest work he has seen.
India were under pressure after Australia scored 326 and it was a tough, pacey pitch to bat on. The tourists went on to lose the game but Kohli's first innings knock received rave reviews.
'Plenty of his innings stood out, not all of them have to be hundreds. One in Perth stands out because it was an awkward track, the bounce was uneven and he stood out amongst every batsman in that match... that's what marks out the best because the pitch is the same for everybody but then one guy stands out and he stood out,' Shastri said.
For the former India coach, the qualities that stood out in Kohli were: 'His work ethic, his professionalism, his hunger for success, hunger to be the best in the world. He has certainly done enough to go down as a great player.'