In the month of September, Team India’s head coach Ravi Shastri in his typical bombastic style claimed that there was nothing left for him as coach to achieve. “I believe so because I’ve achieved all I wanted. Five years as No 1 [in Test cricket], to win in Australia twice, to win in England. I spoke to Michael Atherton earlier this summer and said: ‘For me, this is the ultimate – to beat Australia in Australia and win in England in Covid times.’ We lead England 2-1 and the way we played at Lord’s and the Oval was special,” said Shastri to The Guardian. Just ahead of a high-profile T20 World Cup, perhaps no other Indian coach would have dared to declare his stint in such an unabashed manner.
But then, in many ways, Shastri has never been a typical Indian cricketer or a commentator or a coach. However, at the same time Shastri has been a master of deception in perception management. Admittedly, beating Australia back-to-back as a coach is massive accomplishment but it should also be kept in mind that winning in Australia is no longer ‘the ultimate’ as the 60-year-old would like to convince us. That Australia is no longer a fortress has been underlined by South Africa and England’s multiple series wins in Australia in the last 15 years. Yes, India is (still) leading in England but the fact remains that England hasn’t been conquered since 2007. That Shastri often manages to avoid the uncomfortable follow-up questions by interviewers is lot to do with his exceptional communication skill and a truly authoritative personality.
Apart from those Australia triumphs, there is nothing in Test cricket that can be hailed as truly remarkable. Of course, Shastri keeps repeating about series wins in West Indies and in Sri Lanka as great feat but hits the short- term memory syndrome when it comes to the really tough series which India should have won. India didn’t win a series in South Africa (something an unfancied Sri Lankan team managed just a few months later after India’s tour in 2018) or New Zealand. Sustaining the number one ranking was indeed a laudable achievement but India became number one way back in 2009 and has been by and large among the top two dominant Test sides since then. Again, the shrewd coach never mentions about the tours of South Africa or New Zealand where his team was found wanting. And of course, he would never discuss the World Test championship final failure as well. However, had his team been champions, he would not have hesitated to call that the greatest ever triumph in the history of Indian cricket either!
By his own admission in that interview, this T20 World Cup was the ‘ultimate goal’ for the coach even if he didn’t say in as many words. “In my seven years with this Indian team I don’t remember one white-ball game. If you win a World Cup final you will remember it and that’s the only thing left for me as a coach. Otherwise, you bloody cleaned up everything across the globe. I don’t remember a single [white-ball] game,” said Shastri as a matter of fact which very few will disagree. And, in those seven years Shastri’s boys faltered at 2015 and 2019 ODI World cup semi-final, 2016 T20 World Cup semi-final and a miserable 2021 World T20 campaign in UAE. At least, Anil Kumble can claim that during his short stint as head coach, Indian team made it to the final of the Champions Trophy in 2017 in England!
And look at the audacity or sheer indifference to the facts that despite a global trophy in his kitty, the coach was still thinking that as only ‘icing’ and not a proper cake. “We’ve also beaten every country in the world in their own backyard in white-ball cricket. If we win the [T20] World Cup that will be the icing on the cake. There is nothing more. I believe one thing – never overstay your welcome. And I would say that, in terms of what I wanted to get out of the side, I’ve over-achieved.”
Only history will judge if indeed Shastri overstayed his welcome because this is the man who knows how to survive and thrive in Indian cricket’s political eco-system. His four separate stints as head coach (sometimes with different designations though) in the last 15 years also tells a tale. It is a no-brainer that some of the new IPL teams are banging on his door to sign him as coach. Of course, coaches never win you the games or the trophies but fine coaches also don’t try to hog the lime-light as much as Shastri tried to. On countless occasions, Shastri would be the first to accompany a winning captain in the press conference room while being conspicuously absence when the team needed him most to explain a terrible day. The latest example was Jasprit Bumrah’s press conference in the T20 World Cup . This was the Greg Chappell’s school of coaching and not the John Wright or Gary Kirsten’s philosophy when they used to stonewall all the criticism for their players.
A master of hyperbole, the former India all-rounder also has a disarming presence when he speaks. After every big loss, Virat Kohli is trolled and castigated and all the players are roasted in media but by and large coach gets away lightly by keeping a low profile during those hyper-moments after a defeat. And, yet Shastri can make his job as important as some of the toughest jobs in sports. “You know, being the coach of India is like being the football coach of Brazil or England. There’s always this gun pointing at you. Always. You might have six great months and then you get out for 36 and they will shoot you. Then you have to win immediately. Otherwise, they will eat into you, right through. You need a hide like mine, absolutely like leather, so it doesn’t make a difference.”
At least, you can admire the honesty in some of his quotable and non-quotable quotes. That he was thick-skinned as player and was mentally tough, made him a far better player than perhaps his talent would have taken him. And yes his pep-talks with his personal stories of hardships and triumphs often inspired the young players. That both MS Dhoni and Kohli are among his admirers, Shastri must have something special in him as coach as well. However, purely on the evidence of his body of work as coach across the formats, the proverbial glass remained either half-full or half empty depending on your perspective.
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