Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has confirmed media reports that Virat Kohli spoke to him before announcing his retirement from Test cricket on Monday, May 12. Shastri said he asked Kohli a few questions which made him feel that the former captain was quite clear in his mind that this was the right time to quit the format he loves the most.
Ravi Shastri revealed about the conversation with Virat Kohli
In the ICC Review, Ravi Shastri said,
“𝑰 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 (𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕) 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒔. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒅𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 ‘𝒚𝒆𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆’. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐.”
Shastri said,
“𝑰𝒇 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 100%, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉. 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒓, 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒏. 𝑨 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒋𝒐𝒃 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒙, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑲𝒐𝒉𝒍𝒊. 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒈𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒕, 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕𝒔, 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔, 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅. 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒊𝒇 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕, 𝒊𝒇 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆.”
Virat Kohli ended his Test career before the 5-match Test series against England. He ended his career with 9230 runs and 30 centuries in Test cricket. The pair of Shastri and Kohli was the most successful Indian pair in the history of Test cricket.
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