Xtra Time Web Desk: Team India’s Head Coach Ravi Shastri on Monday indirectly blamed the bubble life for the poor performance of the team in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Regarded as a straight forward character, Shastri stood behind his boys with whom he shared the best years as the coach of the Indian team.
“One thing I would say — this is not an excuse, but this is a fact. When you’re six months in a bubble, this team, there are a lot of players on this team who play all three formats of the game. In the last 24 months, they’ve been home for 25 days. I don’t care who you are, if your name is Bradman, if you’re in a bubble as well, your average will come down because you’re human,” said Shastri during the virtual press conference on Monday.
Under Shastri’s tenure as the Head Coach of the Indian team, Virat Kohli and his boys scaled new heights across formats. Winning back-to-back test series in Australia and leading the test series 2-1 against England were the highlights.
“I mean, if you look at — if you want the real highlights, nothing beats Australia. England, we’re up in the series. It will be the longest time we’ll be up in the series until next year. I might be commentating on that game for all you know, but I’ll keep that one area. It feels good.”
Talking about the loss in the first two matches against Pakistan and New Zealand, Shastri said, “Let’s be honest, I’m not here to make any sort of excuses. We lacked the daring in the second game against New Zealand. I know the toss was important, and as you’ve seen in the last three games how important it is. And I do feel it will continue to be important though not as much now as the weather has cooled down a bit.”
He added, “But still, it’s something for the boys to learn. They’ll get an opportunity again next year. It’s not often you have World Cups in 12 months. So hopefully, they’ll go and kick some butt there.”
Shastri did not forget to thank everyone who has backed him in his job as the Head Coach of the Indian team. But he specifically named former BCCI chief N Srinivasan’s name for giving him the opportunity.
“One man I would like to give special mention to. His name is N. Srinivasan. He was the man who insisted I do this job in 2014. In fact, I didn’t have the belief I could do this job. He seemed to have more belief in my ability than I had. I hope I haven’t let him down. If you’re listening, I got the opportunity, and I did my work without any agenda.”
With Virat Kohli deciding to step down from T20 captaincy (also likely to step down from ODI captaincy) Rohit is all set to take over as white ball captain. The 60-year-old embraced the idea of multi captaincy theory in Indian cricket and feel it can work wonders.
“I think it’s not such a bad thing. I think in Rohit you’ve got a very capable guy. He’s won so many IPLs. He’s the vice-captain of this side. He’s waiting in the wings to take that job.”
For once Shastri got emotional on being asked about his stint with the boys for last seven years.
“For me to be part of that journey with the boys and for the boys to respond and raise the bar in that fashion leaves you going from the dressing room emotional but a very proud man,” signed off Shastri.