"The same thing happened with Sachin" - Former India coach discusses struggling Virat Kohli's future in Test cricket

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri and former Australian captain Ricky Ponting believe that Virat Kohli can still play a crucial role in the Test team by mentoring the next generation of batters. Shastri recalled that both Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara played similar roles towards the fag end of their illustrious careers.

Kohli, who was once India's best batter across formats, has struggled for runs in the red-ball format over the last few years. Since the start of 2021, he has played 36 Test matches and has scored 1,912 runs at an average of 31.86, with three centuries and a best of 186. He scored in hundred in Perth during the Test series in Australia but failed to make an impact otherwise.

Speaking on the ICC Review show, Shastri urged Kohli to take a leaf out of the books of Tendulkar and Lara as he approaches the end of his career.

“The same thing happened with Sachin. I think he had to play a similar role to Ricky. If you look at his last couple of years also, he himself would say he was not at his best. But he was playing well enough and wanted to contribute,” the former India coach said.

“So I think the contributing factor to this team is transition and the youngsters coming through the ranks. If you look at Jaiswal, he's 23. You look at Shubham Gill is 22, 23 [25 years]. Nitish Reddy is 21. There are a lot of players. Rishabh Pant, he is still very young. He is 25 or 26. [27 years]. So there are a lot of guys there who can benefit from the experience of a player of Virat Kohli's caliber,” the 62-year-old added.

Ponting gave his own example and elaborated that he too was not at his best with the bat towards the end of his career, but hung on to guide the younger lot. The Australian batting legend commented:

“I did play for maybe two years longer than I should have. But that wasn't anything to do with me. I continued to play on to try and help the younger group of players coming through, sort of integrate into international cricket and almost be like a coach and a senior figure around the team to help them through because Mike Hussey was retiring as well.

“And [I thought] we're going to be left with not a lot of experienced guys, but guys like Smith, Warner, Lyon had all these young guys coming in at once," he added.

While Ponting ended with a Test average of 51.85 from 168 matches, he averaged over 40 only once during the last four years of his international career.

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Virat Kohli's Test stats in 2024

Kohli (36) played 10 Tests in 2024, scoring 417 runs at an average of 24.52, with one hundred and one half-century. The right-handed batter had a highest of 47 from four innings against Bangladesh and managed only one half-century in the three-match series at home against New Zealand.

The former India captain scored an unbeaten 100 in the second innings of the Perth Test against Australia. However, he managed a highest score of 36 from his next five innings. Kohli began 2025 with disappointing scores of 17 & 6 in Sydney.