Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli gift their bats to outgoing head coach Ravi Shastri

Virat Kohli played his last T20I as India’s skipper against Namibia on Monday (November 8) as India bowed out of the T20 World Cup on a high. The game was emotional for the Men in Blue for many other reasons as well. It was also the last game for head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar. Their tenure ended with this World Cup and they decided not to go for extension for various reasons.

Shastri, on the other hand, was not eligible due to his age as well and have multiple options at hand after leaving the top job. The cricketing fraternity lauded him for his contribution as India’s head coach since 2017 as the team performed well across the globe. The likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli shared a special camaraderie with Shastri who was deemed to be the perfect man inside the dressing room for the side.

No wonder both captain and vice-captain were also overwhelmed with the 59-year-old leaving the dressing room one final time after the Namibia game. For the same reason, both Kohli and Rohit gifted their respective bats to Ravi Shastri giving him a perfect send-off. The picture of the same is going viral on social media as Shastri could be seen with two bats in his hands.

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma gifted their bat to Ravi Shastri. pic.twitter.com/BJd7rfQj5j

— CricketMAN2 (@man4_cricket) November 9, 2021

Virat Kohli’s praise for the coaching staff

Team India won their last game of the T20 World Cup comfortably beating Namibia by nine wickets in Dubai chasing 133 runs. Speaking after the match, Virat Kohli was all praise for the outgoing trio of the coaching staff while also stating that players were always excited to come back to the dressing room. He also thanked them for their contribution in respective departments.

“A big thank you to all those guys (Ravi Shastri and his support staff). They have done a great job over the years, creating such a wonderful environment for the players. People loved to get back to the atmosphere. They have done a really great job,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation.