- 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?