Former India cricket coach Ravi Shastri feels that Virat Kohli has the capability to turn it around from his mediocre performances and thrive in the upcoming five-Test Border-Gavaskar series in Australia.
Kohli had been having a terrible run of it across formats in the last couple of months. The 36-year-old superstar batter has bagged only one half-century and averaged only 21.33 with five Test matches against Bangladesh and New Zealand since the start of the year.
But Shastri, however, warned Australia that Kohli is back in the country where he loves to bat and score runs.
Shastri was quoted saying: "Well, the King is back in his territory. That's all I will tell them," on The ICC Review.
"When you've earned that title after your exploits in Australia, it will be on his mind when you go out to bat." Shastri was talking about Kohli's outstanding displays in Australia, which were marked by a lone fighting century in Adelaide in his maiden Test tour in 2011/12, and as many as 692 runs from four Tests in the 2014 tour itself, and an outstanding 123 in Perth during the 2018/19 series when he led the team.
But Shastri did warn Kohli to be cautious during the early stages of the tour.
"Young man, your juices are flowing, you are charged up. It's again a case with Virat. You want to see calmness because, at times, you are overeager to get out there and throw the first punch," said the former India all-rounder.
"But, I think that calmness in the first half an hour where he gets out to bat or in the first three innings of the series will be extremely important. If he can be calm and play the game at his own pace rather than being in a hurry, I think he'll be fine."
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