Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri has retained his post as Team India's head coach and will be along with the Men in Blue till November 2021. Shastri was on Friday re-appointed head coach of the Indian men's team by the Kapil Dev-led Cricket Advisory Committee, a decision that was expected and has the backing of captain Virat Kohli.
However, former India captain Kapil stated that Kohli was not consulted regarding the selection of the coach as if the CAC did that, the advisory members would have had to take inputs from the entire Indian team as well.
“Shastri’s term will be till 2021. We didn’t take any inputs from skipper Virat Kohli, if we did that then we would have to take the inputs from the entire Indian team,” the former India captain announced.
Kohli had earlier voiced his opinion and backed Shastri to retain the post.
"With Ravi Bhai, we share a great camaraderie, and will definitely be very happy if he continues. But I haven't been contacted so far," Kohli had said before leaving for the West Indies tour.
This will be Shastri's fourth stint with the national team, having served briefly as the Cricket Manager (2007 tour of Bangladesh), Team Director (2014-2016) and head coach (2017-2019).
Shastri pipped former India teammates Robin Singh and Lalchand Rajput along with former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson and Australian Tom Moody to the post. Former West Indies and Afghanistan coach Phil Simmons pulled out of the race, citing personal reasons.
Among all the candidates, Shastri's record was unmatched as the team reached the No.1 ranking in Test matches under his guidance and won a series in Australia for the first time in 71 years.
On the flip-side, India twice lost in the World Cup semi-finals (2015 and 2019) with him at the helm but that doesn't seem to have a bearing on the decision taken by the Dev-led committee that also comprised Shantha Rangaswamy and Anshuman Gaekwad.
Since he came back in July, 2017 replacing Anil Kumble, whose differences with Kohli came out in the open, Shastri's coaching record has been phenomenal.
(With PTI Inputs)
