Rejection is a new experience for Shastri: Sanjay Manjrekar 1

Former Indian player Sanjay Manjrekar took to twitter to praise BCCI’s decision to appoint  Anil Kumble as head coach of Indian cricket team. Calling the decision to chose Kumble over Rai Shastri a “better choice” the cricketer turned commentator said that Kumble  “will put his heart & soul in the job.”

After an impressive stint with team India as its director, Shastri was the front-runner to bag this job. However, the Cricket Advisory Committee, comprising of former Indian stars Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar selected Anil Kumble.

Under Shastri, who had taken over as team director in August 2014, India made it to semi-finals of successive global events – the 2015 World Cup and the 2016 World T20, and also climbed to No. 1 in the Test rankings. In this period, India also won their first limited-overs bilateral series in Australia, whitewashing the hosts 3-0 in a T20 series.

Miffed with the decision, Shastri publicly expressed his disappointment.

“I am disappointed because I had put in so much hard work. I had given my everything. And what was great to see were the results that were produced in those 18 months across all formats. I am disappointed because of the hard work put in and the time was there now to take it forward, play even better cricket…but there is no opportunity for me now. But such is life. You take a knock on the chin and move on. When the sun rises the next day, it’s a different day,” Shastri said after being snubbed by the BCCI.
Reacting to Shastri’s comments, Manjrekar said that the outgoing team director is not used to rejections.

Meanwhile in Bangalore on Wednesday, Kumble has handled the head coach row better.
“It’s not about me or Ravi. It’s about the players and the success of Indian team,” said Kumble, adding that the head coach’s job was not a “permanent” position.