Five Reasons Why Ravi Shastri Should Not Become Team India’s Coach

Jul 5, 2017 at 12:09 PM

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Five Reasons Why Ravi Shastri Should Not Become Team India’s Coach

The ongoing saga about India’s next coach has engulfed the entire Indian cricketing fraternity like a wildfire. The fallout between Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli was profusely messy, as it came on the back of undying rumours and allegations, of the two individuals, have an air of friction between them. Well, if two extremely stern and aggressive individuals were to share power for a team like India, this was well expected.

Now that Kumble is gone and no longer the coach, all eyes fall towards the veteran Ravi Shastri. Shastri had previously managed the Indian side on two separate occasions, once in 2007 and more recently from mid-2014, till the end of the 2016 World T20 in India. The second occasion consists of a vast sample size, vast enough to portray Shastri’s actual contribution to the Indian setup.

Keeping in mind the team’s run under him, below, we have a look at five key reasons, why Shastri shouldn’t be appointed as the team’s coach later this month.

  1. Team Selection Policy:

Under Shastri’s tenure as the team director cum coach, the Indian side witnessed some questionable changes and alterations to the playing XI. It was first during the Test series Down Under when this aspect was noticed. Rather than backing an absolute champion batsman like Cheteshwar Pujara to succeed on a batting friendly wicket of Sydney, Shastri opted to drop him altogether. Though India saved the game, doing so wasn’t an ideal move. Pujara at the moment was vulnerable and needed the backing of the management, but rather, he was dumped. The same followed in the one-off Test in Bangladesh and the first two Tests in Sri Lanka as well. It was only when openers Shikhar Dhawan and M. Vijay were injured, that Pujara actually got his chance. And what did he do? Scored a match winning 145 and carried his bat on a track where the rest of the batting imploded. The question remains, what would have been Pujara’s future had either of the openers not been injured in the first place?

  1. Have Better Candidates Around:

Now in the fray for the coach, we have the likes of Tom Moody and Lalchand Rajput running in contention for the prestigious job. On any given day, a person like Moody is far more astute than Shastri to take over as the full-time coach of the outfit. Regarding experience, Moody has an ocean of experience under his wings, having coached Sri Lanka in the past, and two IPL franchises since the last few years. The fact remains that not just Moody, but even Rajput brings more to the table than Shastri. Not to forget, under Rajput, India won two coveted titles, the World T20 in 2007 and the CB Series in 2008 Down Under. So, if there are far more viable candidates in contention, why fall back to Shastri alone?

  1. Making Him Coach Means Bowing Down To Kohli:

It is no secret that Indian captain Virat Kohli loves having Ravi Shastri around. Well, there are clear reasons for that as well, as Kohli feels “comfortable” with Shastri around him. It was under the veteran Mumbai all-rounder’s stint, as the team director that Kohli struck impeccable form in Australia, scoring four centuries in the Test series. But, does that show the entire picture. Certainly not. If Shastri is indeed made the coach, a very negative message will be emitted from the BCCI’s and India’s point of view. It will mean any individual will be appointed the head coach as long as he enjoys good terms with the Indian captain. Make no mistake, this could lead to a colossal problem in the near future.

  1. ODI Record Under Shastri Was Skewed:

Under Shastri’s tenure, India played 40 ODI’s, winning 24 of them, at a success rate of 60%. From the offset, this looks to be a decent record indeed, but again, it is far from portraying the reality. India began their ODI run under the former all-rounder with a thumping 3-1 away series victory in England, that was followed by successive home victories against West Indies and Sri Lanka. But then, later on, India were thrashed in Bangladesh, South Africa and Australia in succession. The 2-3 loss to South Africa at home was humiliating, as it was the first instance of losing to the Proteas at home. So was the thrashing inflicted upon by Bangladesh. In Australia though, India just about managed to save themselves from total humiliation with a  1-4 drubbing. The fact is crystal clear indeed, that India’s ODI record under Shastri was extremely skewed and inflated. The wins mostly came against Sri Lanka (5-0), an outfit that was asked to come to India at the very last moment. Not to forget, India failed to defend their World Cup title right under Shastri’s tenure.

Ravi Shastri
  1. Defending Disgraceful Pitches At Home:

To be quite frank, Shastri remains someone who likes authority and wants things going his way come what many. That was evident in the four-match Test series against South Africa in late 2015 at home. The nature of pitches used in that series was disgraceful, to say the least, as teams were witnessed crumbling within the matter of two sessions. The average first innings score in that series stood at a dismal level of just 193 for all completed innings. It wasn’t surprising to see matches being over within two and half days flat. The nastiest aspect, however, came when Shastri defended the use of such tactics and pitches just on the basis of using “home advantage”. The pitches were so down ridden, that they made even part-timers look like legendary spinners. It shouldn’t be surprising if India witnesses several such pitches in the future if Shastri is made the coach.

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