Ravi Shastri feels the current Indian team can be the best travellers in the world

Head coach of the Indian team, Ravi Shastri was all praises for Virat Kohli and the team after their clinical performance in the third Test of the ongoing series against England. Shastri lauded the boys for their spirit and termed them as possibly the “best travellers” in world cricket. India won the third Test at Trent Bridge on Wednesday to bring the series to a 2-1 balance still in favour of England.

Having set a mammoth target of 521 runs for the English to chase down in the fourth innings of the Test, the Indian pacers were exquisite as they bowled out the hosts to register a whopping 203-run victory. The Indian skipper was adjudged ‘Man of the Match’ for his 97 and 103-run scores in the two innings.

Ravi Shastri compares Virat Kohli to Sachin Tendulkar

Speaking to Mike Atherton during an interview for Sky Sports, Shastri drew an apt parallel between Kohli and the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.

“He (Kohli) is very passionate about the game. He loves batting. He loves to do the hard yards. His work ethic is second to none and I have not seen any cricketer. I will put (Sachin) Tendulkar in that bracket when it comes to preparation, visualising situations, how he goes about planning, ability to stay in present — great qualities in any human being. I promise you that these two innings, he has forgotten. He will take guard as if he has not got runs in this series,” said the Indian Head Coach.

When asked if he considers the current Indian bowling attack to be strong enough, Shastri opined, “Oh by a mile (if they are the best group of fast bowlers) and (also in terms of) bench strength. If you look, the two potently best bowlers for English conditions would have been Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. We didn’t have them at all right through the ODI series (Bumrah had a fractured wrist and Bhuvneshwar had a back issue) and also not at the start of the Test series. So we couldn’t play as a unit, then we have Ishant and Shami and we have Umesh in the reserves, who is bowling beautifully. They can come into play anytime.”

Further, the former Indian all-rounder stressed on the need to win big in away conditions. “We know we will thrash teams at home. There’s no chance for the opposition if they come to India and if we prepare tracks that suit us. But we want to go outside and win and I think this side can be the best travelling side in the world,” concluded Shastri.

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