Ravi Shastri re-appointed at the helm

The first major piece of news after the World Cup from BCCI came on the 16th of August 2019 as head coach Ravi Shastri was once again given the role after being reappointed by the Cricket Advisory Committee.

Shastri, who will now enter his second full tenure as head coach of the Indian team and fourth overall as the main man behind the scenes, will see his contract expire in November 2021. With the ICC Test Championships and the T20 World Cup scheduled to take place during this time, Shastri has his work cut out as he looks to guide the Indian team to ICC cricketing glory once again. Ravi Shastri pipped the likes of former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson, Australian Tom Moody and Indian pair of Robin Singh and Lalchand Rajput to land the job.

While Virat Kohli had backed him for the job citing great camaraderie and mutual respect between him and the rest of the team, the CAC decided to hand the reins over to Shastri once again based on the parameters of coaching philosophy, achievements as a coach, coaching experience and communication and knowledge of modern coaching tools. The advisory committee comprising of former Indian captains Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy were quick to point out that Shastri’s abilities checked all the boxes.

Kohli's confidence and the players camaraderie played a huge role

While his tenure wasn’t short of controversies and problems, Ravi Shastri and his backroom staff did manage to put in a fine shift during his first full tenure.

While the one result that will obviously stand out and possibly tarnish his legacy in the future is the disappointing semi-final exit at the 2019 World Cup, Shastri did deliver a lot during his first full stint as a coach. An unprecedented Test series victory over Australia in their own backyard leads the way for a compelling list of achievements. Along with this, they also managed to clean sweep against Proteas in the ODI series in South Africa, a first.

India were also the number one ranked Test and ODI team under Ravi Shastri and he boasted of an overall win record of 71 percent across all formats. While these are wonderful records on paper, it was probably his work behind the scenes and the general relation with the players that helped him gain an advantage over his fellow competitors.

It is always essential that players are given enough confidence and backed when they undergo a dip in form. Considering that all the players have enough skill level given that they are representing their nation, Shastri backed a few of the players when they faced the axe.

Perhaps, the most important aspect of the Shastri tenure that is also often overlooked is the development of the bowling unit. While the spinners have been in sublime form for quite a few years, the fast bowling department gained rapid strides during his past stint as coach. Yes, a lot of this comes down to the work ethic of the bowlers and Bharat Arun’s relentless work, Ravi Shastri and his importance came in when it came down to managing the workload of the seamers.

Moving forward, he will be looking to make a few tweaks to the team and make sure that the wins keep on coming. Perhaps his biggest test will be integrating the youngsters and calling up some of the rising stars to the squad and see how they perform at the highest level. With the core of the current side reaching their twilight when Shastri’s new tenure comes to a close in 2021, he has the daunting task of making the team progress seamlessly through a short transition period if and when it comes.

With him turning 59 by the time his current stint comes to an end, which is one year below the age restriction of applying for the position, Ravi Shastri will be looking to make these two years count and bring his coaching tenure to the best possible close with possibly India lifting the 2021 T20 World Cup.

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