Former India coach Ravi Shastri, who guided India to historic Test series wins on their last two tours, wants Virat Kohli to fire himself up like he has done on the previous tours Down Under and rediscover his lost touch during the coming Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT).
Holders India will defend the BGT in a five-Test series, beginning with the tour opener in Perth on November 22.
Talking about how Kohli, who has been the subdued version of himself over the past few years, Shastri said Kohli “needs to” bring his aggression to the fore once again.
“You mellow with age, don’t you? But I think at the start of the Test series, you might just see (Kohli) firing again. He needs to be, I’d like to see him (like that) again,” said Shastri, who was the coach when Kohli captained India to first ever Test series win on the Australian soil in 2018-19.
Kohli has not been on the top of his game in the post-Covid era, with just two hundreds coming off his bat in the last 60 innings. Lately, in the Test series against Bangladesh and New Zealand at home before flying to Australia, Kohli aggregated just 192 runs in 10 innings.
Shastri felt facing Australia in Australia might just spur the 36-year-old Kohli on and bring him back into his own, and the same goes for Australia veteran Steve Smith.
“In the face, that’s Kohli,” said Shastri. “Come Australia, he’ll get his juices going. It’s (about) how he starts off, and for Australia, it’s with Steve Smith. These guys, don’t write them off – because if they get cracking in the first two or three innings, they’ll have a good series.”
