Ravi Shastri, one of the greatest cricketer India has ever produced. However, he will not be known solely as a player anymore, after his fantastic tenure as Indian Cricket team head coach. Ravi Shastri was appointed as the head coach of Indian in 2017 by the Cricket Advisory Committee(CAC), which had Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly as its member.
The Ravi Shastri – Virat Kohli duo performed really well for the progress of Indian team. One cannot deny the fact, they both took the level of Indian cricket team a level higher than previous one. However, under him India failed to win any major ICC trophy but certainly that cannot overturn the fact that India became one of the dominant team outside Asia in test cricket. Ravi Shastri did make some significant changes in Indian team which produced significant results and benefited the team most. To sum up, these are revolutions for Indian Cricket that happened under Kohli-Shastri duo:
1) Rohit Sharma in Test Cricket
One of the challenges which Ravi Shastri took up by himself was to make Rohit Sharma a great test opener. Everyone know him as a finest cricketer of white ball, however he did lack skills and patience for test cricket. Shastri left no stone unturn to bring the class out of the player and do well in test cricket. Rohit performed brilliantly, and is now ranked higher in ICC test batsman ranking than Virat Kohli. That is an achievement.
2) Bumrah in Test Cricket
Many cricket enthusiast opined not to include Jaspreet Bumrah in test cricket as they believed he lacked the skills for test bowling. Moreover, there was a concern that India would lose their best white ball bowler, as his unique action was suggested as prone to injuries. However, Shastri and Bumrah proved everyone wrong and breached the fortress of every batsman in the world.
3) Motivational Coach and Leadership
Ravi Shastri has the aura of motivating the young guns and showing them the path to walk on. One such recent instance happened, when India were all out for 36 against Australia in first test. Then, Ravi Shastri told the boy to wear this 36 as a badge to remind themselves of the loss and bounce back stronger. The results were immediate as India sealed the series 2-1 against Australia away from home.
4) Kohli- Shastri Bonding
Virat Kohli and Shastri had a great bonding between them as they remained on the same page for their goal to be accomplished with their respective responsibilities for Indian cricket team. Both were passionate, aggressive and wanted to establish India as a great test side away from home in SENA nations, which was remarkably achieved. India also became the first Asian side to beat Australia in their own backyard in tests under Kohli-Shastri.
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5) Success Across formats
India established some great records under Shastri’s tenure. To start with, India remained as number 1 test side for 42 months. India won 51 ODI out of 76, however they failed to secure World Cup 2019 trophy even after finishing at the top of points table. Moreover, India won 42 T20i out 64 matches. Shastri tenure ended with India’s early exit from T20 world cup without even qualifying for semi-finals. However, if winning percentage is considered then India were at their best across the formats under Shastri.
Ravi Shastri has left a big legacy behind him and Rahul Dravid has a big shoe to fill in as the new head coach of Indian team. Do let us know what do you think ? Will Dravid-Rohit duo enjoy more success than their predecessor.