Ravishankar Jayadrith Shastri is back where he belongs as the head coach of the Indian senior cricket team. He will hold the baton and guide the team for two more years till the Twenty 20 World Cup in 2021. The Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), led by Kapil Dev decided to retain the former India all rounder after shortlisting and interviewing four other candidates who had applied for the position.
CACs decision was not well received by fans across the world going by their reactions on various social media platforms. Unfortunately for Ravi, the needle of general public perception of his role as the overall team leader has been towards the neigh end. For someone who has a better win than lose record in all forms of the game (71 per cent), it is a bit difficult to understand this negative emotion.
Shastri’s been dealing with fan negativity ever since he stepped up as a senior Indian cricketer. Getting hundreds against the finest bowling attacks in the world of the 80s and 90s is not something achieved by many Indian openers, barring Sunil Gavaskar. He put his hand up when the team needed him. Centuries in Pakistan, West Indies, England and Australia made him a batsmen respected by fellow cricketers even as he was considered a boring batsman who was slow and only played ‘chapati’ shots.
His six consecutive sixers against Tilak Raj of Baroda were forgotten. So was his steely performance in the 1985 World Championship of cricket where he got the Man of the Series in India’s winning effort. While the late Malcolm Nash, who Sir Garfield Sobers plundered in a county game in the first ever ‘six sixers’ effort, was celebrated and became a sought after speaker, Raj’s whereabouts are not known. Both were first-class fixtures and Nash wasn’t a Derek Underwood.
The CAC took the decision to keep Shastri on board thanks to his experience and record, two of the necessary criteria. Plus his relationship with the captain, Virat Kohli, which, in my opinion,was the biggest factor that went in his favour. When Kohli endorsed Shastri, much before the CAC held their interviews, the matter was over.
What jarred one’s thoughts was the way that Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) handled the whole process. What was the need to have this charade of a selection, considering Shastri ticked all the boxes? His track record was good, he had won (for the first time in the history of Indian cricket) a Test series against Australia and shared a great equation with the captain and senior members of the Indian team.
If winning the recently concluded World Cup was a criteria, every coach and support staff of all participating teams, with the exception of England, should have been sacked. Winning seven out of eight matches in the tournament is no mean achievement. The law of averages plays out strangely — even more than the fickle English weather which also caused India’s defeat.
I have two points that need to be mentioned here. If the CAC did not have any doubts about Shastri’s ability as the head coach — which they do not as proven, they could have interviewed (rather reviewed) only him and called for applications from other candidates, only if the review left something to be desired.
The second important point, which is being debated as I write this, was the way the BCCI announced the decision to reappoint Shastri.
The official letter sent to the media showed the preferences of the CAC as first, second and third. Was this a examination for admission to a course? Putting the names of Mike Hesson and Tom Moody as choices number two and three was insulting. Was the BCCI trying to convey that Hesson would replace Shastri if he were to miss a tour or series for any reason?
And what about Lalchand Rajput and Robin Singh? The last mentioned duo are extremely capable coaches who have proven their competency with known national and international teams over a long period of time. What were they trying to tell the public? That they failed the test? Flunked the interview? The entire saga was insensitive, bordering on being insulting. One hopes that BCCI will understand that sensitivities need to be taken into consideration before they behave in the manner they did.
Shastri has had a good term as a coach and team director from 2007 when he stepped in, temporarily, against Bangladesh till the 2019 ICC World Cup. He has also managed player power, so far, something the cricket guru Greg Chappell could not cope with. Now that the episode is over, it is up to Shastri to work towards, in his own words, ‘overseeing transition and integrating youngsters into the national team.’
