Former India captain and head coach Ravi Shastri revealed if he’ll ever coach an IPL team in the future. He also shared a reason which motivates him to do so.
Shastri was at the helm of the Indian team, first as a director from 2014-2016 and then took over as head coach from Anil Kumble in 2017 and continued till his tenure ended in 2021. Shastri as coach and Virat Kohli as India captain achieved great success including two successive Test series wins in Australia, Test wins in England and South Africa and qualification for the final of the ICC World Test Championship.
India also qualified for the semi-final of ICC World Cup 2019 under his guidance and was unbeatable at home in Tests. Shastri’s tenure came to an end in 2021 with India getting eliminated in the group stage of the T20 World Cup that year in UAE.
“You don’t rule that out” – Ravi Shastri says working with youngsters a reason for coaching an IPL team
Ravi Shastri said that his motivation is the chance to work with youngsters rather than for the money but added that he is in no hurry to take the plunge of coaching an IPL team in the near future.
He stated that working with Indian youth thrills him, but his desire to take a vacation from the dressing room kept him away after standing down as national team manager.
When asked by Ravichandran Ashwin on his YouTube chat show if he wanted to, coach an IPL side, Shastri said: “Not really. Not after doing India for 7 years. You never know what can come up in the future and how involved you are going to get.
You know, there is no doubting the experience you have and what you can bring to the table, but after 7 years with the Indian team, especially those times — you were there — the toughest time that game has seen since the World War II — during Covid, quarantine and the bubbles, you just wanted ta break from the dugout, the dressing room and everything. The broadcasting and the mic gave me the freedom to express myself again. And have some fun.”
“You don’t rule that out. Once you have been involved with the game and played the game and you wanted to contribute to the youth, then that will always linger in your mind. It’s not just the money part of it, but also the contributing factor. How you can get into the heads of the young kids and pass on the knowledge you have before you forget it yourself?
If I ever go there, it will be precisely for that reason. Not to see the superstars carrying on the way they are, but to cultivate, identify and groom talent, and take them through the roof,” Shastri added.
Ravi Shastri said that he enjoys the abundance of talent that the IPL has and getting the youngster to play ruthless cricket is a reason for him to coach a side.
“I will enjoy it because the spread is so much these days, they have complexes, they have language barriers and challenges culturally. And then get them together to play fearless cricket and ruthless cricket is my cup of tea. So never discount that, it would always be the case when you are handling youngsters,” he added.
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