“I only post. Don’t know whats’s troll poll or scroll. So all remains same.” This was Ravi Shastri’s cryptic WhatsApp reply to moneycontrol.com on January 20, a day after India’s stirring triumph over Australia in Brisbane.
The Indian coach was asked if he had redeemed himself after setbacks such as the 2019 World Cup and the Adelaide Test.
Following those defeats and some others, Shastri had been mocked online for a few things, including his reportedly alcohol-induced belly protrusion and his approx. Rs 10 crore a year paycheck.
Shastri did not elaborate on his WhatsApp message. His statement could imply two things. Either he meant he just posted on social media and did not bother with the rest. Else he was saying he posted results and let his work speak for itself.
What is beyond doubt is that Shastri has answered his critics. He is a scrapper who likes the combat of sport, its pressures, even at 58. He even enjoys its fickleness, which others struggle to handle.
“Sport takes you up, it takes you down. You don’t want it to be sugar sugar sugar all the way,” Shastri had said at an event in Mumbai last February.
A Disneyland operator probably could learn a bit about rollercoasters from Shastri, such has been his career. One day the country feted him for becoming the Champion of Champions at the 1985 World Championship of Cricket. The next, spectators were shouting ‘Shastri Hai Hai’ due to his soporific batting.
Shastri rode over adversary, for the most part, due to a blend of attributes. One was his performances, even if he had an influential mentor in Sunil Gavaskar. Flair or not, you cannot play 80 Tests and 150 ODIs, score 15 international hundreds, and take 280 wickets, based on PR. Shastri famously went from a left-arm spinner who batted at the tail to one who opened the innings, that too in an era of the best fast bowlers in cricket history. He scored hundreds in Pakistan, West Indies, and in Australia.
Secondly, Shastri possessed an enviable ability to not care about what others said. And his passion for cricket always remained high. Even when he spent nights on the town in his heyday, he was committed to the sport.
Shastri’s reputation was of a man who partied till late but was on the ground on time the next morning. Cricket circles respected this, not to mention his tactical and leadership acumen. It is no surprise that Shastri led India to a Test win over West Indies and Mumbai to a Ranji title.
During his talk last year, Shastri shared his ideas about match preparation and leadership. He spoke about the need to play to your strengths rather than fret over what the opponent had in their bag.
“A lot of teams are more worried about opposition strengths,” Shastri said. “I have seen certain teams, some of our teams in the past, getting overawed. ‘Oh, his name is Michael Holding, his name is Imran Khan’. We know they are great. You have to think about what your strength is to combat them.”
As for leadership, Shastri said, “Leadership would demand you showing the path. Where you [the team] want to see yourself in 12 months. That might be a mindset change for certain individuals. You take no prisoners there. No guy can say, ‘I don’t want to do it’. This is a team management decision. You jolly well do it. When it came to fitness, there were some long faces (in the team). But when they saw the results, and Virat’s (Kohli’s) commitment to fitness, they started embracing it. So, you are going to get friction at times.”
Twelve months since that talk, India achieved the impossible. And for now, it’s all sugar sugar sugar.
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