During Ravi Shastri’s tenure as the Indian men’s cricket team, head coach, it was the reign of fast bowlers. The Ravi Shastri- Virat Kohli duo took India’s bowling to the next height. Picking 20 wickets regularly in away Test matches was easy peasy . Moreover, India could easily defend any total in the ODIs and T20Is too, with the likes of the pace fires. Names like Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja were backbones behind India’s dominance in world cricket.
However, with Shastri leaving the camp, the spark fades. The new India lost those matches which could have easily won, had it been the previous set up. Shastri however, admits the steep decline in India’s bowling and fielding performances too.
These are not school kids, they are millionaires’: Ravi Shastri
At a ‘Meet-the-media programme’ at the Mumbai Press Club, Shastri told Ayaz Memon,
“(Yes) Man-management is the key, these are not school kids, they are millionaires, each one has a mindset of his own, how you deal with those players is extremely important. You should know how to crack the whip, when to speak to the guy and what platform, is it individual, one to one, that kind of experience in not bought and sold in the market. You have got to have it. I think, I had it.”
Besides bowling, he pointed out that India’s fielding needs immediate care too.
Shastri added,
“The emphasis on fitness becomes very critical. In my time we had the Yo-Yo test. A lot of people laughed at it. The test was never for selection, it was for creating awareness among the players. It made a massive difference, not just in the way they played, but the way they moved on the field. What is worrying (now) is the number of times you have allowed the opposition to score over 200 runs in the last few months. People will blame the bowling, but it is also the fielding.”
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