5 points from Ravi Shastri’s book of cricket coaching

#5 No outside influence

In sports or in life in general, hate affects you more when you let the love affect you first. If you don’t care about someone’s love, it doesn’t matter if they hate you at some stage. The Indian fans have this tendency of turning a player from hero to villain in a space of few days and this affects the players when they get too much into this feeling of being portrayed as a hero.

That’s the first thing Shastri has removed from their system. "Don’t care about what the fans are saying outside - they will worship you and they will thrash you as per their mood and convenience – you have to turn a blind eye. Your job is just to play cricket to the best of your abilities. That’s it." These were the exact words of the Indian captain Virat Kohli as well when he spoke to the press after the ODI series in South Africa and needless to say who those words were inspired by.

The message is clear to the players. What matters is what the management thinks about them and what they feel about their game. Anything and everything being written or said outside, with or without bias, is irrelevant.

It goes without saying that with all these simple, yet effective philosophies, Shastri is writing his own legacy as India coach.