Cricket Advisory Committee retain Ravi Shastri as Team India head coach

The Cricket Advisory Committee comprising of Kapil Dev, Shanta Rangaswamy and Anshuman Gaekwad have reappointed incumbent Ravi Shastri as Team India's head coach until the 2021 T20 World Cup in India. The interview process was held in the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai on Friday.

The CAC reappoints Mr Ravi Shastri as the Head Coach of the Indian Cricket Team. pic.twitter.com/vLqgkyj7I2

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 16, 2019

This decision comes after a thorough recruitment process which included a final shortlist of six candidates to become the next Indian coach. The final shortlist to become the head coach had the names of well-renowned coaches like ex-Sunrisers coach Tom Moody, ex-New Zealand coach Mike Hesson, Lalchand Rajput and Robin Singh. Earlier in the day, former West Indies opener and Afghanistan coach Phil Simmons had pulled out of the race to become the new Indian coach, meaning that only five candidates were left to be interviewed.

While Ravi Shastri was retained, the CAC is said to have been very impressed with both Hesson and Moody's presentations. “Both Hesson and Moody came up with good presentations. They had a clear road map for the future,” one of the officials said to Sportstar.

On deeper analysis, this reappointment of Ravi Shastri shouldn't come as a major surprise considering that Team India had garnered pretty good results over the last two years. While India failed to win an ICC silverware in the form of the recent 50-over World Cup, the team developed into a fierce Test outfit both at home and also in overseas conditions under Shastri's reign.

In fact, India registered a historic 2-1 series win in Australia last year while also retaining their position as the number one Test side. Apart from that, India won the ODI part of the tours of South Africa and New Zealand under Shastri.

Also, skipper Virat Kohli had built a good rapport with Shastri and this would have played a huge part in the latter's reappointment. "The CAC hasn't contacted me yet. If they want my opinion, I'll go and speak to them. 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," Virat Kohli said before the team departed for the West Indies tour.

On an overall basis too, several Indian players have spoken positively about Shastri's man-management skills and its impact on the performances of the team.