Ravi Shastri thinks that Virat Kohli has mellowed with age

Former coach to Team India Ravi Shastri has advised Kohli to return to the antagonist role in the Australia Test series.

Ravi Shastri recently admitted that Virat Kohli has “mellowed with age” and advised him to return to the antagonist role in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy series (BGT). He has now shared a word of advice for Virat Kohli to “get in the face” of the Australian team and antagonize the opposition in a bid to change his fortunes in batting in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, beginning on Friday, November 22 at the Optus Stadium in Perth.

Ravi Shastri has advice for Virat Kohli regarding the upcoming BGT series.

As quoted by The West Australian, Ravi Shastri said that Virat Kohli has “mellowed with age.” He advised him to return to the antagonist role, which he relished during the early parts of his career, including the 2012/13 and the 2014/15 tour of Australia. He said, “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. In the face, that’s Kohli. 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.”

Ravi Shastri defends no practice match for Team India.

India initially had a practice match with Australia ahead of the Test series, an intra-squad match against India A at the WACA, but the BCCI canceled it owing to injury concerns. Instead, they had a three-day match simulation. Ravi Shastri said that he would’ve preferred India’s first-choice XI to take on an organized team in a practice match but admitted that the management must have carefully chalked out the intra-squad game, given that the players headed to Australia a few days ago after losing against New Zealand at home.