Dubai: Outgoing India head coach Ravi Shastri, who completed his highly eventful tenure as India’s head coach terms the Indian team as one of the greatest side, and opined that the team has over-achieved in last seven years. Needless to say the team reached great heights under his guidance, especially in the Test arena.
“There have been changes since I came in as a team director in 2014. I would like to thank N Srinivasan (former BCCI president) for having more belief in me than what I had in myself in 2014. My aim was to grow world class players. If you ask me this team has over-achieved,” Shastri said at the post match press conference.
The Twin Test Series won Australia and became 2-1 with an incomplete series in England, with multiple winning Whiteball by Lateral series around the world. Also the fitness standards has changed drastically in past few years.
“Fitness, defensive standards, and the hunger of these players make them not only a great Indian team, but also a great team in the history of the game. The ICC trophy is missing, but within 12 months. You’ll get a chance, “he emphasized.
He also backed the new appointed head coach Rahul Dravid to raise the bar with his wealth of experience as a player and coach.
“Today is a very moving day for me. I’m happy to leave. There is one thing missing, that is (winning the) ICC tournament. They will get a chance and Rahul has come as a coach, I wish him all the luck. He is a great player, got the stature, he has done the yards as a coach, to further take this team over the next few years and raise the bar,” Shastri explained.
The 59-year-old also warned that cricketers might opt to pull out of international commitments if the cricket boards around the world and International Cricket Council (ICC) doesn’t address their mental fatigue. Talking about players mental and physical health Shastri has said that India’s poor outing in the 2021 T20 World Cup is partly due to the exhaustion due to an extended bio-secure bubble for the past six months.
“I won’t give excuse, but we are living in the bio-secure bubble for the past six months. We would have ideally liked a bigger gap between the IPL and the World Cup. These are all human beings, they don’t run on petrol!” Shastri said.
The outgoing head coach also said that the X-Factor in the Indian team was missing, and the side wasn’t ‘switched on’ as it should have due to the long bio secure bubble. He also insisted that managers need to plan better and take longer breaks, especially before big tournaments like the World Cup.
“All cricket boards and the ICC need to think about how they are going to handle the players’ mental fatigue. Because after some time, you will see players starting to pull out from future series if we continue to play in such bubbles. You can make changes, ask youngsters to fill in, but at the end of the day, India is playing and that is how people will remember it. And let me tell you, this Indian team is a winning team,” said Shastri.
” It’s when the big games come and when the pressure hits you – you are not that switched on as you should be. And it’s not an excuse. We take defeat because we are not scared of losing. Because in trying to win, you will lose a game. Here we didn’t try to win because that X-factor was missing,” he concluded.
