Ravi Shastri has at all times been the disaster man in Indian cricket. When India faltered on the 2007 World Cup and Greg Chappell resigned after the event, he was given interim cost with an eye fixed on resurrection. In 2014, when India had been rolled over within the Tests in England, he was appointed workforce director, but once more for a course correction. Through his seven-year stint, with a mini break when Anil Kumble took over for a yr, Shastri oversaw India’s rise, particularly within the longest format.
Under Shastri as head coach and Virat Kohli as captain, India progressed from being the seventh-ranked Test workforce on this planet to win back-to-back Test sequence in Australia and take a 2-1 lead in England earlier than the ultimate Test was postponed. On the day of his farewell, the outgoing head coach turned emotional.
Shastri refused to attract any comparability between Tests and ICC occasions, saying all of the tournaments/sequence that India play are necessary. But he cited bubble fatigue, with the gamers on the highway for six months now.
“This is one of the great teams in the history of the game, absolutely no doubt in my mind. Unfortunately, we are out of this tournament, but that takes nothing away from a great side,” he mentioned on the post-match press convention.
Shastri didn’t supply any excuse for India’s poor efficiency at this T20 World Cup however mentioned that bubble life might be mentally draining. “You are not switched on as you should be. This is not an excuse. Because in trying to win, you will lose a game. Here we didn’t try to win, because the x-factor – the players were mentally and physically drained – wasn’t there.”
Bubble life may have affected even Don Bradman was his remark. “I don’t read too much into Virat’s form. I don’t care who the player is. If you put even Don Bradman in the bubble, his average will come down. Eventually, the bubble will burst.”
Shastri agreed {that a} brief break between the Indian Premier League and the T20 World Cup might need helped the workforce, however hoped it will win an ICC title – “the only missing piece” – within the close to future, beneath new head coach Rahul Dravid. “They will get the rub of the green.”
He thanked former BCCI president N Srinivasan for giving him the chance to teach India and dropped a touch that his future may lie in TV commentary once more, the place he made his identify earlier than coming to teaching. “We won back-to-back (Test) series in Australia. We took the lead in England and it could be the longest lead in history (with the final Test deferred to next year). I might be commentating on that Test,” Shastri mentioned.
He additionally thanked outgoing bowling coach Bharat Arun for constructing an awesome assault and outgoing fielding coach R Sridhar for making the workforce’s fielding normal world-class.
