I see a bit of myself in him: Ravi Shastri on Virat Kohli

Kolkata, Nov 15: With India playing with a new-found spunk under stand-in skipper Virat Kohli, team director Ravi Shastri has said he sees a bit of himself in the flamboyant Delhi batsman.

"He's aggressive and he's very young, so the exuberance is still seen in him, which is very good for the team. And I see a bit of myself in him," Shastri said during an interaction with management students, here yesterday (November 14).

"Even when I was 20-22 years of age, the adrenaline was running high. We've have been playing some good cricket. It's a passionate bunch of boys."

In his own admission, Kohli has brought the ruthless factor into the side as India outplayed Sri Lanka in the first four ODIs to take a 4-0 lead going to Ranchi for the last ODI on Sunday.

With Rohit Sharma going berserk in a breathtaking world record 264, India piled 404/5 for yet another merciless win against the Lankans. Lavishing praise on Sharma, the former India skipper said "I just told him to spend some time in the middle and he responded well to the pressure."

Shastri said pressure always brings out the best in one. "Sometime having butterflies in your stomach is good... He was under pressure scoring the initial 10-15 runs, but once he overcame the phase, everything fell in place," he said. Shastri also hailed the ICC's recent crackdown on bowlers with suspected actions and said it was better late than never.

PTI