Ravi Shastri reveals shocking fact about Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni during his coaching tenure

Team India is currently hosting England for a 5-match Test series. The Men in Blue after winning the 2nd Test have levelled the series 1-1. The home side have not lost a series in their den in the last 12 years. England were the last team to defeat Rohit Sharma's side. Virat Kohli's captaincy led to some of the team's best Test cricket years. The star India batter led the team to its first Test series victory in Australia and held the world's number-one spot for 42 months.

Under the tenure, India's pace attack flourished, with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, and Umesh Yadav combining to become a formidable force in both domestic and international Tests. Mohammed Siraj has developed as a key fast bowler for India in Test cricket in recent years.   

The 35-year-old took over as Test captain in late 2014; the same year, Ravi Shastri briefly served as the team's director. The duo reunited in 2017, with Shastri taking over as head coach, and are credited with India's rise to prominence as a cricketing powerhouse. In an interview with Michael Atherton, Shastri discussed his time working with Kohli, noting that he saw the batter's leadership potential early on.

There was a lot of individual brilliance but I wanted to see team brilliance: Ravi Shastri

Shastri said, as quoted by PTI, "There was a lot of individual brilliance but I wanted to see team brilliance. I wanted to win and to make Test cricket paramount and identified an uncut diamond in Virat Kohli. While (MS) Dhoni was my captain, my eye was on him (Kohli). I told him very early in my second month: ‘It’ll take time but watch, observe, be ready (for the captaincy)."

"Kohli was fully engaged with Test cricket. He was passionate. He was prepared to do the hard yards and was prepared to play tough cricket, which fitted my way of thinking. When you play Australia or Pakistan you’ve got to have a 'no complaints', 'no excuses' attitude."