Ravi Shastri, Indian cricket team’s former captain and director, was appointed as the head coach of the team on July 11. He is back with the team exactly a year after he served as the director for 18 months. This will be his third stint with team India. He had also been a Cricket Manager during 2007 tour of Bangladesh and now, he will be with the team as a head coach for the next two years until World Cup 2019.
A day after getting appointed as the coach, Ravi Shastri spoke to a leading Indian news channel, India TV, where he talked about various team related aspects. When asked about the appointment of Zaheer Khan as the bowling coach and Rahul Dravid as special batting consultant, Shastri said,”It is a positive step. Both Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan have played high-level cricket and they have got so much of experience.”
Since the current Indian team is a mixture of young and experienced player, Shastri asserted that it’s a very good team right now to play excellent cricket. When he was asked about the roles of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh in the team he said that there future depends totally upon performance and fitness.
He said”Their experience will be invaluable and their performance from the last 10-15 years should be respected. Fitness and current form are the two most important parameters to judge their future.”
During the conversation, he clearly denied being the ‘Yes Man’ of Indian skipper Virat Kohli. He said,”There is a good balance between me and the team. I know the team very well. The players also know my approach. They know how close they can be with me and how much of a distance they need to maintain from me.”
He also stated that he is not going to induce any new rule or law in the team as a coach. The way the things have been going on, he will just add into that and if required, he may consult the former coach Anil Kumble whom he has replaced.
Last time when Ravi Shastri was associated with the team, they had a remarkable performance throughout. Team India won Test an overseas series versus Sri Lanka, reached the semi-finals of 2015 World Cup and World T20 semi-finals in 2016. They also conquered the overseas ODI series in England and T20 series in Australia. They won a Test series against South Africa.
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