Shastri suggests Kohli to take a break from cricket

F.P. Report

NEW DELHI: Indian cricketing great and former head coach Ravi Shastri believes Virat Kohli is mentally “overcooked” and needs to take a break from cricket in order to serve the country for at least another six-seven years, news website revealed.

“I am going straight to the main guy here. Virat Kohli is overcooked. If anyone needs a break, it’s him,” Shastri said, while talking to Indian TV channel Tuesday.

“Whether it’s two months or a month and a half, whether it’s after [the] England [tour in July] or before England – he needs a break because he has got six-seven years of cricket left in him and you don’t want to lose that with a fried brain,” former India coach added.

Virat Kohli has been a bit out of form in his recent past. The master class batter has not scored a century in the last 100 matches across formats and, in the past seven months, stepped down from T20 captaincy – both for India and Royal Challengers – as well as quit Test leadership and was removed from the ODI captain’s position.

“When I was [India] coach at the time when this first started, the first thing I said is, ‘You have to show empathy to the guys,’” Shastri said. “If you’re going to be forceful, there is a very thin line there, from a guy losing the plot as opposed to him hanging in there and giving his best. So you have to be extremely careful.”