Exceeded my expectations: Ravi Shastri bids adieu as Indian team coach with emotional speech

The current Indian team has "over exceeded my expectations", former Indian cricketer Ravi Shastri said in his final speech to the dressing room as the team's head coach.

Shastri, whose tenure ended with the team's exit from the ongoing T20 World Cup, left the dressing room with a riveting speech following the Indian team's final tournament match against Namibia.

“You guys as a team have over exceeded my expectations with the way you've played. Over the last few years, you went across the globe, across formats and beat everyone. This makes you one of the great teams that has played the game," Shastri was heard as saying in a snippet of the speech shared by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

"Not only a great Indian cricket team… This will go down as one of great teams that has played the game over the five-six years across all formats. The results are there to be seen," he further added.

Must Watch: A stirring speech to sign off as the #TeamIndia Head Coach

Here's a snippet from @RaviShastriOfc's team address in the dressing room, reflecting on the team's journey in the last few years. #T20WorldCup #INDvNAM

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Watch https://t.co/x05bg0dLKH pic.twitter.com/IlUIVxg6wp

— BCCI (@BCCI) November 9, 2021

Also Read | Rahul Dravid appointed head coach of Indian cricket team

Shastri became the director of the Indian cricket team in 2014 for a period of eight months from the tour of England till the 2015 World Cup. He was removed in 2016 but on July 13, 2017, he was appointed the head coach of the Indian team, reuniting with Kohli to forge a cracking partnership.

The highlight of his tenure was back-to-back Test series wins in Australia. Shastri, who completed his highly eventful tenure as India’s head coach, feels that Rohit Sharma is ‘ready and capable’ to take over the T20 captaincy from Virat Kohli.

“I think in Rohit, you have got a very capable guy. He has won so many IPLs, he is the vice-captain of the team, he is ready (waiting) in the wings to take that job,” Shastri said in the press conference on November 8 following the Namibia match.

“I think multiple captains is not such a bad thing because of the bubble and so much cricket being played, the players need to be rotated around and given the space they need to spend some time with their families and see their parents.

“When a guy doesn’t go home for six months he might have his family with him but you have parents and other family and if you don't get a chance to see them, it's not easy at all, so I think it's not such a bad thing,” he opined.

Shastri is convinced that despite their indifferent performance in this edition of the T20 World Cup, India will continue to be a very strong team in the shortest format in near future.

“...because IPL throws a lot of young players into the mix and Rahul (Dravid) will have his own ideas on how to take this team forward. I see this still to be a very good team.

(With PTI inputs)