Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has revealed that he would have named Virat Kohli as the Indian Test captain immediately following the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Kohli announced his retirement from red-ball cricket in May 2025, shortly after Rohit Sharma’s Test retirement, sparking debate regarding leadership in the Indian Test squad. Notably, India will play England in a key five-match Test series beginning June 20 at Headingley, with Shubman Gill taking up captaincy duties.
“I am sad that he has gone the way he has. Unfortunately, I believe that (retirement) might have been handled better; there could have been more communication. If I had my way, I would have appointed him captain immediately after Australia,” Shastri added.
Shastri is recognised as one of Indian cricket’s most prominent coaches, having forged an impressive collaboration with Kohli. The duo originally collaborated from 2014 and 2016, and then again from 2017 to 2021, during which time Indian cricket achieved significant milestones. Under their leadership, India reached the 2019 ICC World Cup semifinals and won two historic Test series in Australia, once in 2018/19 and again in 2020-21.
Virat Kohli made his Test debut against the West Indies in 2011 at Kingston, Jamaica.
Over time, he developed into the backbone of the Indian batting unit. One of his career milestones occurred in 2019 during the Pune Test against South Africa, when he recorded his highest Test score of 254*.
However, Kohli’s form declined significantly over the past five years of his Test career. During that time, he only managed three century and nine half-centuries, with an average of 30.72. Overall, he played 123 Tests (210 innings) and fell just 770 runs shy of the 10,000-run mark in the format. He had already said goodbye to T20Is last year. Kohli’s entire aim now is to represent India in the 50-over format.
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