Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar reminded his ex-teammate Ravi Shastri of India’s accomplishments in the past. Ravi Shastri had recently said that this current Indian team has had the best run in the last 15-20 years.
However, Sunil Gavaskar criticised Ravi Shastri as he reminded him of Rahul Dravid’s captaincy record. Under the leadership of the Wall, India went on to win in England in 2007, in West Indies in 2005 and also won in South Africa for the first time. Ravi Shastri had said the following in the pre-match conference.
Shastri once again puts this team over the past Indian teams.
“I can’t see any other Indian team in the last 15-20 years that has had the same run in such a short time, and you have had some great players playing in those series. So the promise is there, it is just about getting tougher mentally, you have got to hurt when you lose matches because that’s when you look within and come out with the right kind of answers, to combat such situations and get past the finishing line. One day you will if you believe.”
Meanwhile, the first man to scale the 10,000 runs barrier in Test cricket, thinks on a different page as he brought Rahul Dravid team’s record to the table. In fact, this is not the first time that Ravi Shastri has made such an overconfident statement.
“All I can say is that no Indian team has won in Sri Lanka for a long time. But we have won in the West Indies, in England, Test matches in Australia and South Africa,” Gavaskar told ‘India Today’ on Thursday.
“What I can say is that teams in the 1980s have won in England and West Indies. Rahul Dravid also won series in West Indies in 2005, in England in 2007 and captained when India beat South Africa for the first time (in South Africa)”.
Therefore, the Little Master said Rahul Dravid gets little credit for his captaincy for leading India to success on the foreign soil.
“Dravid gets very little credit for his leadership and his team’s wins. There have been teams who have won overseas,” Sunil Gavaskar said.
The current Indian team has shown great promise to do well in the overseas conditions. However, the results haven’t gone their way. Thus, it is imperative for Ravi Shastri to respect the past teams who have done well in their tenure.