The Anil Kumble turmoil and tango with Ravi Shastri: Virat Kohli's relation with India head coaches
Virat Kohli played under the guidance of several prominent Indian cricketers—Kumble, Shastri, Dravid, and Gambhir.
With Virat Kohli's retirement, India bid adieu to one of their greatest Test cricketers. Kohli's legacy can't just be defined by numbers, as he has done a lot more in whites. He brought the much-needed fire back to red-ball cricket, which had started to fade with the emergence of the T20 format. Team India was in turmoil, placed at the seventh position in the ICC rankings, when he took over the charge of the Test side from MS Dhoni in the 2014-15 Australia tour.
He ended up taking India to heights that no other captain ever could in the red-ball format. He led them to a historical first-ever Test series victory by an Asian team on Australian soil. Under his leadership, India also won Test matches in England and South Africa while taking them to the top of the ICC rankings.
Throughout his illustrious career, Kohli played under the guidance of several prominent Indian cricketers—Anil Kumble, Ravi Shastri, Rahul Dravid, and Gautam Gambhir—but his experience remained largely different with each of them.
Virat Kohli's relation with Indian head coaches
Anil Kumble-Virat Kohli: The legendary India spinner took over the coaching duties in June 2016, which lasted just one year as things didn't turn out well between him and the skipper. The big guns of Indian cricket had a fallout when Kohli didn't agree to Kumble's methods and as he opined that players were not happy with his intimidating style of enforcing discipline. However, Kohli enjoyed an imperious run with the bat and scored 1503 runs in 16 Tests at an average of 65.34 during that period, including four double centuries in as many series. The team also performed well and started to get back on its feet with 12 wins in 16 matches.
Ravi Shastri-Virat Kohli: It was probably the most flamboyant era of Indian Test cricket, during which the coach and captain complemented each other well. The duo brought a fitness revolution to the team with the introduction of the Yo-Yo test and, more importantly, assembled a fiery pace attack that helped them dominate the red-ball format both in India and overseas. Their partnership helped them to a historic Test series win Down Under and crucial Test wins on English and Proteas soil. India won 25 Tests out of 43 under Shastri's helm.
Rahul Dravid-Virat Kohli: The cricketing world witnessed a calmer side of Kohli when Mr Dependable took over the coaching reins. He was not the captain anymore and also had the worst time with the bat during that period. He went through the longest century drought of his career. However, the two shared great camaraderie on and off the field, often praising each other on publicly. Kohli scored 1083 in 17 Tests at an underwhelming average of 38.67.
Gautam Gambhir-Virat Kohli: When Gambhir took over the charge, his relationship with Kohli came under the scanner once again. The two had a couple of on-field verbal altercations in the IPL in the past, which grabbed the eyeballs. Gambhir, for his part, repeatedly said that whatever happened between them on the field during the IPL was a thing of the past, and they always maintained a good relationship off the field.
The two were seen enjoying each other's company, but it didn't translate into results for both the team and Kohli as a batter. India lost two back-to-back series since Gambhir took over - a historical whitewash at home against New Zealand and a meek surrender of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.
In the 10 Tests Kohli played under Gambhir's guidance, he scored 382 runs at a poor average of 22.47. In the latter stage of his career, Kohli’s ongoing weakness outside the off-stump—often edging balls to the slips or the wicketkeeper - became a significant issue, particularly evident during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. This technical flaw, lingering for the past four years, has raised serious concerns within Team India, leaving both the management and fans questioning whether he can regain his former dominance.
