India’s Test skipper Virat Kohli has praised on newly appointed Team Director Ravi Shastri and said that having Shastri around is a big boost for the team. “He is a guy who does not shy away from responsibility. He is someone who takes the blows on the chin. He keeps moving forward,” the new Test skipper said. BCCI is looking for a new coach after former coach Duncan Fletcher’s time over after the World Cup 2015. Kohli has made it clear that the team wants Shastri to continue, coach or no coach. “We would love to have him on board even if he is doing the same job right now. Just to have him around the group is a massive boost for us,” he said. He has even credited Shastri for his dramatic turnaround in Australia (where he scored four hundreds in the Test series after a dismal tour of England). “He suggested I stand in front of the crease and on the off-stump. I was not convinced to begin with. I was thinking in my head that it might expose my stumps. He said just trust me, do it. It came out beautifully,” Kohli said.
