Indian team is more Ravi Shastri's side than Virat Kohli's, says Monty Panesar

Former England spinner Monty Panesar believes that the current Indian team is more of a reflection of head coach Ravi Shastri’s thought process, rather than the ideology of skipper Virat Kohli. Panesar based his analysis on the evaluation of Team India’s performance in the last few months. The former cricketer expressed these viewpoints in an interaction with India Today over the phone from the UK.

“If one analyses the performance of India in the past few months, you can see that it is more of Ravi Shastri’s team than Virat Kohli’s. At least that’s what I feel,” said Monty Panesar.

“It is Ravi Shastri who has built a self-belief in this Indian cricket team. What they achieved in Australia after the infamous ’36’ in Adelaide is quite a miracle. They won the series even though their charismatic captain Virat Kohli didn’t play the rest of the series, and India kept losing players to injury. It was Shastri who got the job done for India against Australia that too in their backyard,” he added.

Treat to watch face-off between Kohli and Anderson

Team India will be next taking on New Zealand in the final of the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship (WTC). The same will be followed by a five-match Test series between England and India. It will be interesting to witness the battle between Virat Kohli and James Anderson, with the players considered the best in the business.

“Oh, it will be a treat to watch. Two greats of the game going against each other in the toughest format of the game. The battle will be intense. believe Kohli will again have a great series and will end up the highest run-getter,” said Panesar.

The former England cricketer believes that the Indian team should go with the pace trio of Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami rather than giving an opportunity to Mohammed Siraj. He has further gone for the inclusion of regular campaigners like Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja.

Panesar’s India XI for WTC final

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami.