Ravi Shastri, the Head Coach of Indian cricket team, was upset on the eve of the clash between India and New Zealand at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
As per a report in mid-day, Shastri was not happy with the fact that he was called in a meeting with the match referee at the time of the practice session of the Indian cricket team. He went to the meeting along with the Indian captain Virat Kohli, New Zeland skipper Kane Williamson and coach Mike Hesson,
“Ravi expected the meeting to take place either in the match referee’s room or in the umpire’s room at the Wankhede Stadium. He was also fine with the meeting being held at the team hotel,” a source told mid-day.
It is understood that the meeting was regarding briefing the captains and coaches regarding the new ICC rules, which will come into effect with the commencement of India vs NZ series. The last series that team India played was played as per the old rules. However, in T20I series, some of the rules were adopted while some were not. The scenario left Aaron Australian player Finch confused.
This will be the first game which Indian team will be playing with new rules in play. One of the highlights of new rules is the size of the bat and also a team getting back the reviews in case of umpire’s call.
Indian skipper, Kohli, also spoke about the mater on the eve of the game and said that these changes would make the game more professional.
Meanwhile, skipper also somehow indicated Ajinkya Rahane’s exclusion from the playing XI. The right-handed batsman was the highest run-scorer for India in the series against Windies while he scored four half-centuries against Australia in five ODIs, still, he is the third opener, and the skipper opined that he does not want to confuse him by making him play in the middle-order.
It was sort of confirmation that Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya would form team India’s middle order with the skipper continuing to tinker with the batting positions of a batsman as per the need of the hour.
The first of three ODIs will be played at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on October 22.