Ravi Shastri gets extra run as Indian cricket team’s director
A day after setting up a high-profile Cricket Advisory Committee, comprising of Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly, theBCCI retained Ravi Shastri as the national team’s Director of Cricket for the tour of Bangladesh starting next week. By doing so, the Indian board confirmed that the announcement of a full-time coach, Duncan Fletcher’s replacement, will be put on hold until the end of the upcoming fortnight long tour.
BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur made the announcement on Tuesday, adding that the continuation of Shastri’s job, one he has held since the tour of England in August last year (including during the World Cup) is only a stop-gap solution until a permanent chief coach is signed by the board.
The 53-year-old former Test captain will be supported by assistant coaches Sanjay Bangar (batting), Bharat Arun (bowling) and Ramakrishnan Sridhar (fielding) for the three ODIs and the one-off Test match.
“The BCCI wishes to inform that Mr. Ravi Shastri, former India Captain, has been appointed as Director of the Indiancricket team for the tour of Bangladesh, starting on 10 June 2015,” Thakur said in a statement. “This (applies) for the Bangladesh tour and future decisions will be taken after this.”
India Test captain Virat Kohli believes Shastri is the right man for the role.
“He is a guy who does not shy away from responsibility. He is someone who takes the blows on the chin. He keeps moving forward,” Kohli told The Cricket Monthly.
“There are no two ways about his thinking. He is the most amazing person to have around this team right now because it is a young unit and the kind of confidence he gives. He has authority; when he speaks people respect him.”
The praise didn’t end there. “(With Shastri) there is no talk just for the sake of it. He is sensible and something that gives you a lot of confidence and a lot of assurance,” Kohli is reported as saying.
“We would love to have him on board even if he is doing the same job right now. Just to have him around the group is a massive boost for us. To have him around the group in some way would be lovely. To have the head coach or who to have and what to do about is all part of the discussion when we sit down,” he said.
Kohli also went on to add that it was Shastri’s presence in the dressing room that helped the batsman get over a very lean patch that he suffered during the England series in early 2014. In 10 innings in that five-Test match tour, Kohli scored just 134 runs at an average of 13.4 runs per match. But by the time he went to Australia, India’s new number four scored four centuries and also became the Test captain with MS Dhoni’s retirement from the long format mid-way through the series.
“He is the one who suggested I stand in front of the crease and on off stump. I was not convinced to begin with. I was thinking in my head that it might expose my stumps. He said just trust me, do it. I did not do it in England. But I went to Australia and I thought about it,” Kohli said.
“I said, why not. I am playing international cricket. I can’t be sitting in a comfort zone and let guys dominate me. It came out beautifully. I am thankful to him for sticking by me after England.”
