India Is More Of Ravi Shastri's Team Than Virat Kohli's: Monty Panesar

Cricket Image for India Is More Of Ravi Shastri's Team Than Virat Kohli's: Monty Panesar (Image Source: AFP)

Former England spinner Monty Panesar says that Indian head coach Ravi Shastri has had more influence on the team than captain Virat Kohli. 

“If one analyses the performance of India in the past few months, you can see that it is more of Ravi Shastri’s team than Virat Kohli’s. At least that’s what I feel,” Monty Panesar said as quoted by India today. 

The former left-arm bowler believes that coach Shastri has helped in developing the self-confidence the team has, and also credited the Indian coach for the 'miracle' win in Australia earlier this year.

“It is Ravi Shastri who has built a self-belief in this Indian cricket team. What they achieved in Australia after the infamous ‘36’ in Adelaide is quite a miracle. They won the series even though their charismatic captain Virat Kohli didn’t play the rest of the series, and India kept losing players to injury."

“It was Shastri who got the job done for India against Australia that too in their backyard,” Panesar said.

The Indian team has benefitted a lot since the pair of Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli have joined hands. Shastri had the backing of captain Kohli when he was made coach in 2017. India has since then been one of the most successful teams across formats. 

The Indian team is going into another big game of an ICC tournament under Ravi Shastri and Kohli as they play World Test Championship(WTC) Final against New Zealand on 18th June at Southampton, England.