'I've achieved all I wanted' - Ravi Shastri

[ShoonyaSifar]

Quote

"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.

 

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. To beat Australia away and to lead the series in England in a Covid year? It is the most satisfying moment of my four decades in cricket

https://www.rediff.com/cricket/report/shastri-will-step-down-ive-achieved-all-i-wanted-kumble-team-india-coach/20210918.htm

 

Yes those wins in Australia and England this year have been extra ordinary. But was winning an ICC trophy not even on his agenda?

 

No surprises that since he's been with the Indian team in various capacities (Team Director between 2014-16 and Head coach since 2017, we have not won an ICC trophy.

 

Incidentally Kohli spoke exactly the same thing before the England series. If they did not care about LOIs, wonder why they both did not let someone else lead and coach the LOI sides?

[sandeep]

1 minute ago, ShoonyaSifar said:

But was winning an ICC trophy not even on his agenda?

Coach doesn't play the game.  And he has earned the right to focus on the positives.

 

We all know the selection politics that Virat played with middle order batting, that directly led to the semifinal failure.  

[Ankit_sharma03]

he can proudly brag about a great tenure , well done .

For me he has been one of our best coaches 

Edited September 18, 2021 by Ankit_sharma03

[AuxiliA]

We make fun of him now but will miss him when he goes. 

 

He has been a revelation as a coach. Never seen the team fight like this before. If only senior players had stepped up during knockouts. He would have been a GOAT coach and us a GOAT team. 

Edited September 18, 2021 by AuxiliA

[sandeep]

12 minutes ago, Ankit_sharma03 said:

he can proudly brag about a great tenure , well done .

For me he has been one of our best coaches 

And massively underrated.

 

He nailed the most important part of being head coach - man management.  Excelled at captain management, maybe to the extent of going overboard, but still.  

 

And in spite of all the accusations and insults of incompetency, alcohol, hiring stooges as assistant coaches etc - he actually put together a quality team of assistant coaches who did the hard yards.  

 

Shastri deserves a lot of credit and appreciation from the fans.

 

Was he perfect? Hell, no.  But then nobody is. Even Buchanan -the guy who 'coached' the acknowledged modern greats of the Aussie team, is known for having glaring flaws. 

 

I will go as far as saying that Shastri is the best coach India have had since John Wright. 

 

And old-timers on the forum will know how highly I think of John Wright.  

[Gollum]

Still angry about how he credited Aus series win to Kohli, immediately at the end of day 5 Gabba.

 

But man his name will always be attached to our greatest triumph in cricket history, BG 2020-21 was bigger than all our WCs, bigger than any previous test series win. Compared to the Aus heroics, even recent Pataudi series was meh. 

 

We all are annoyed about recent ICC KO defeats, but honestly even winning 2019 WC against Eng in the final wouldn't have been half as satisfying as what we accomplished earlier this year in Aus. 

[Lord]

just another bombastic statement

[Gollum]

24 minutes ago, Ankit_sharma03 said:

he can proudly brag about a great tenure , well done .

For me he has been one of our best coaches 

Would have done even better with another captain (say Rohit) especially in white ball cricket.

 

After 2020-21 BG I realized that Shastri wasn't the problem, besides he also brought in Bharat Arun who is probably the most important man in coaching role we have ever had. 

[sandeep]

3 minutes ago, Gollum said:

After 2020-21 BG I realized that Shastri wasn't the problem

He never was - but he was smart enough to know what not to do, to avoid going the Kumble way.

 

And you know what?  There is a reasonable argument to be made that it is counter-productive to clash with the captain, and to believe in the philosophy that cricket is a sport that should be driven with the captain in the captain's chair, and not the coach.  For good or for bad, Shastri embraced that philosophy, and did reasonably well with it.

 

The biggest responsibility of the head coach is to get the best players in the team, mentally ready and in a space to be able to perform their best.  This was Shastri's core competency - and he has been universally acknowledged as being excellent at it - by all the players, over the years.  Repeatedly.  Cannot be faked.  

[sandeep]

Forgot to add - Shastri is the mastermind behind resurrecting Rohit Sharma's test career.  

 

That was a gutsy move when it happened, and look where we are today.  

 

 

[maniac]

41 minutes ago, Ankit_sharma03 said:

he can proudly brag about a great tenure , well done .

For me he has been one of our best coaches 

can you name me another Indian coach who had this kind of refined talent pool Under him?

 

 

[Ankit_sharma03]

5 minutes ago, maniac said:

can you name me another Indian coach who had this kind of refined talent pool Under him?

 

 

 

Its not what u have , its what u do with what u have 

After Aussie tour where we had almost a C team no one shud even ask what players did he have 

[maniac]

2 minutes ago, Ankit_sharma03 said:

 

Its not what u have , its what u do with what u have 

After Aussie tour where we had almost a C team no one shud even ask what players did he have 

on the flip side no ICC knockouts and outside of Australia no series wins including the last one in England which doesn’t have a result.

[Ankit_sharma03]

23 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Would have done even better with another captain (say Rohit) especially in white ball cricket.

 

After 2020-21 BG I realized that Shastri wasn't the problem, besides he also brought in Bharat Arun who is probably the most important man in coaching role we have ever had. 

Indian team problems n Some RCB problems were same and so is the captain 

RCB looked better from last season when they got hesson (tactically in team selections)

 

Their is only much a coach can do coz at the end Coach job is to prepare team and give it to captain. For all his ideas at the end it was kohlis call. He wud have been bit more authoratitve in aus coz we didnt have our regulars leader . But thats what a coach shud do in the end give captain ideas rather then becoming captain. 

 

And true had Shastri had a young dhoni as captain or Rohit we wud have known more. 

[Ankit_sharma03]

9 minutes ago, maniac said:

on the flip side no ICC knockouts and outside of Australia no series wins including the last one in England which doesn’t have a result.

We didnt deserve to win - honest truth

Dhoni in his last captaincy days was having outdated ideas in white ball cricket, kohli just extended those outdated ideas. We had great talent under kohli but kohli never let the team be stable which has been the similar case with RCB. RCB has had kirsten, hesson, katich and they have coached other sides which hasnt had instability issues . So pretty much it was kohli 

 

Same coach diff captain but we didnt choke in Asia cup n nidhas 

[Majestic]

Ravi Shastri deserves all the credit especially for that legendary win in Australia 2020.

 

A WT20 or Champions Trophy or even WTC Final win either of the three aren't comparable to the win we had in Australia 2020 series in the absence of Virat Kohli and a number of fast bowlers which were injured.

[rollingstoned]

The difference a year makes, pre Australia everyone only saw him as a glorified drunken mascot. The discussions on how he asked the bowling coach to make plans for Smith and Labuschagne were quite telling and revealed that he was much more than some cheerleading buffoon. I'd put him on a par with Kirsten which is still an excellent achievement.

[ShoonyaSifar]

As good as he has been, under his charge we have had the captain derail the youngsters as he pleased and take illogical decisions as per his whims. Under his charge, we have had a dressing room where friendships have mattered more than talent or performance.

 

He was part of the setup which led to Pant being almost lost, no chances for Siraj for over 2 years, Sundar being wasted, KL being shuffled around, Shardul being benched in the home series vs England plus the whole IOU with Dhoni to keep him around till 2019 (and but for covid even for the 2020 T20). He agreed to the sinister Kohli plan of keeping Rohit away from the entire Australia tour, thanks to Dada's intervention, Rohit still made it to Australia and has not looked back since then.

 

All his major success were achieved the year and I'd say that's inspite of him as he hardly backed the players who are key to those successes.

[maniac]

12 minutes ago, ShoonyaSifar said:

As good as he has been, under his charge we have had the captain derail the youngsters as he pleased and take illogical decisions as per his whims. Under his charge, we have had a dressing room where friendships have mattered more than talent or performance.

 

He was part of the setup which led to Pant being almost lost, no chances for Siraj for over 2 years, Sundar being wasted, KL being shuffled around, Shardul being benched in the home series vs England plus the whole IOU with Dhoni to keep him around till 2019 (and but for covid even for the 2020 T20). He agreed to the sinister Kohli plan of keeping Rohit away from the entire Australia tour, thanks to Dada's intervention, Rohit still made it to Australia and has not looked back since then.

 

All his major success were achieved the year and I'd say that's inspite of him as he hardly backed the players who are key to those successes.

You articulated it much better  

 

I think Shastri does have a good cricket acumen though and obviously can talk his way into anything with his charisma and presence. That is definitely great quality to have but he always comes across as a guy who follows the status quo when he sees great players. He always seems to be submissive to guys who have more credentials than him as a cricketer. 
 

I don’t think he can challenge Kohli, Dhoni and Rohit. 
 

I would say he should have run junior cricket to guide youngsters who are mentally fragile because Shastri is definitely one of the mentally strongest cricketers to play for India.

 

He is not a coach. At best he can be a good administrator reporting to someone.

[ShoonyaSifar]

25 minutes ago, maniac said:

You articulated it much better  

 

I think Shastri does have a good cricket acumen though and obviously can talk his way into anything with his charisma and presence. That is definitely great quality to have but he always comes across as a guy who follows the status quo when he sees great players. He always seems to be submissive to guys who have more credentials than him as a cricketer. 
 

I don’t think he can challenge Kohli, Dhoni and Rohit. 
 

I would say he should have run junior cricket to guide youngsters who are mentally fragile because Shastri is definitely one of the mentally strongest cricketers to play for India.

 

He is not a coach. At best he can be a good administrator reporting to someone.

He was the NCA Chairman in 2007 (was not a full time post though). 

 

He actually has stepped forward to take up roles with the Indian team at some of our toughest periods - immediately after 2007 tour, stepping in as team director in 2014 after the England whitewash. Has always never shied from speaking his mind but as a director/ coach how he decided to be subservient to first Dhoni and then Kohli will always remain a mystery.