I see a bit of myself in Virat Kohli: Ravi Shastri

Ravi Shastri

Indian cricket team director Ravi Shastri has said that he can see a bit of himself in the way stand-in captain Virat Kohli goes about his game. Heaping praises on the 26-year-old, whose proactive captaincy in the ongoing bilateral ODI series against Sri Lanka has been lauded by experts and former cricketers, Shastri said that Kohli’s aggression is rubbing off on the team.

In an interaction with management school students, at Kolkata, Shastri said: "He's aggressive and he's very young, so the exuberance is still seen in him, which is very good for the team. And I see a bit of myself in him."

He added: "Even when I was 20-22 years of age, the adrenaline was running high. We've have been playing some good cricket. It's a passionate bunch of boys."

Pressure brings out the best in players

On Rohit Sharma, who made a stunning comeback in Indian colours after a two-month injury lay-off by breaking the record for the highest ODI score ever with his 173-ball 264 in the 4th of the 5-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, Shastri said: "I just told him to spend some time in the middle and he responded well to the pressure. Sometimes, having butterflies in your stomach is good. He was under pressure scoring the initial 10-15 runs, but once he overcame the phase, everything fell in place."

Having won the fourth match, at Kolkata, by a massive margin of 153 runs, Kohli and Co. would be looking forward to complete a clean sweep when they lock horns with the Lankans, at Ranchi on November 16, for one final time in this series.