Ravi Shastri will surely go down in history as one of India’s greatest coaches of all time, but according to a former Pakistani captain, the former all-rounder-turned-commentator had “no right” to take on a coaching role. Shastri was appointed head coach of the Indian team from that position in 2017 following the controversial ouster of Anil Kumble, but since taking over, Shastri’s resume has been rife with achievements unrivaled by any Indian coach before him. Under Shastri, India won two Test series in Australia and led England 2-1 on their soil. Also, the team reached the 2017 Champions Trophy final, the inaugural World Test Championship and the 2019 World Championship semifinals.

And yet former wicketkeeper Rashid Latif believes the decision to remove Kumble and replace him with Shastri backfired and somehow managed to establish a relationship Virat Kohli‘s slump in form until Shastri’s appointment as coach. “It’s because of him[Ravi Shastri]that this happened,” Latif said when asked about his reaction to Shastri’s advice to break up Virat Kohli on the Caught Behind YouTube channel.

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Shastri was appointed director of Team India in 2014 and stayed on until 2016 when Kumble was appointed head coach. However, a falling out between coach Kumble and former captain Kohli saw the spin legend resign from his post before Shastri officially stepped in in July 2017. Latif believes Shastri, who had previously commented for years, shouldn’t have interfered in coaching, indirectly mentioning that Kohli’s form was tarnished because of the previously burned bridges.

“In 2019 you took out a player like Kumble and Ravi Shastri came in. Whether he had accreditation or not, I have no idea. He was a broadcaster. Nothing to do with the coaching It was other people that played a role in bringing Shastri in. But this is going to backfire now, isn’t it? Had he (Shastri) not become the trainer, he (Kohli) would not have gone (out of shape).