MS Dhoni believed Virat Kohli was ready to captain India in Test- Ravi Shastri

MS Dhoni believed Virat Kohli was ready to captain India in Test- Ravi Shastri: MS Dhoni hung his Test whites last year December in Australia, handing over the Test captaincy to Virat Kohli. Ravi Shastri, the Indian team director saw a transition in the Indian captaincy from cool to aggressive.

The word was already around across the media that Virat Kohli would be the successor of Dhoni’s position, but according to the former all-rounder Ravi Shastri, one of the reasons why Dhoni retired was because he knew Kohli was ready to take up the responsibility as the Test captain of India.

“I think that was one of the reasons why MS decided to quit. You know he realized that there are three formats of the game. It is becoming hard for him. But at the same time he knew there was someone ready,” Shastri told reporters in Colombo.

Dhoni still continues to captain India in the limited-over matches and Shastri feels that Dhoni retired from the Test at the right time.

“Now if you think back, you will know why he made that decision. It was a good decision because it was clear in everyone’s mind, across the media, that this [Kohli] is your future captain and let him captain in that last Test match in Australia so that all speculation goes to rest,” the Team India Director said.

Shastri concluded by saying that it would be unfair if Kohli is judged so early without getting a chance to prove his capabilities as a captain in the long run. Shastri said Dhoni had a strong confidence in Kohli as a captain, he saw Kohli was ready.

The former all-rounder said, “You know the obvious choice was Virat but by announcing his retirement, he made it clear that ‘I believe this guy is ready and he needs a run’.”

“It is still early days but you will see it [success] in time. Each captain has his own style. You can see with Virat, like I said before, he is pretty much in your face. He will play to win, and he will want to be positive all the time. There will be intent in anything he does,” Shastri concluded.