India has lost series against South Africa and England under the tutelage of Ravi Shastri.
India easily missed the chances to win the first Test at Edgbaston and also the fourth Test at Southampton. They have lost both the tests by close margins and due to the failures of the batsmen.
Apart from the batsmen, who are under fire, the role of the Indian head coach Ravi Shastri has also being questioned. Known for his brash and overconfident statements, Shastri and Virat Kohli’s pre-tour press conference had statements like "People have forgotten the Champions Trophy was also played in England. I was asked what I would do when I landed there, and I said I wanted to walk around the streets with a cup of coffee. My thinking is very different," by Kohli and supported by Shastri.
When India had lost the South Africa Test series, Shastri had blamed the lack of practice matches on the tour and BCCI rectified that by giving them practice matches and keeping the limited overs tour before the England Test series. However, Virat and Shastri cut down the only practice match before the Test series from a four-day affair to a three-day match.
The team, captain and coach were both criticized for not playing more practice games in between Tests and spending time in leisure.
With India losing their second Test series overseas, Ravi Shastri’s position as head coach has come under scrutiny and with that many other options have been discussed for Shastri’s position.
Here are the 3 best alternate choices for the post of head coach of India cricket team
SOURAV GANGULY
He drew the Test series in Australia and England in his first try and took the team to the World Cup finals in 2003. He retired in 2008 and since then has had stints as a commentator and now an administrator.
Ganguly’s name has always made rounds when options for Indian coach came up. In fact, it was Ganguly, who along with Laxman and Tendulkar chose Ravi Shastri as the head coach after Anil Kumble stepped down.
Even Ganguly admitted that he wanted to become the coach of the national team and said, “When I got into administration, I was desperate to be the coach of the national side.”
Ganguly as the coach might give Virat Kohli a sounding board that won’t say yes to his every idea and whims and fancies and would challenge him to think differently. Ganguly might also inspire the team into fighting hard on overseas tours and would stop the constant chopping and changing in the playing XI and back players to do well.
Ganguly’s achievements are great and the young members of the team, who have grown up watching Ganguly lead India, might get inspired enough to try and emulate him and perform at a better level.
TOM MOODY
He became the coach of Western Australia team in 2007 and coached Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2008. Since 2012, he has been the coach of the IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad and the team has reached the qualifier rounds three times and won the title in 2016.
Moody is a well-learned coach with extensive experience of coaching Indian players in the IPL and knows the Indian conditions very well. His experience in Australia and England might also come in handy when team India tours there and he know how to handle the star Indian players.
RAHUL DRAVID
Under his tutelage, the U19 Indian Team won the 2018 Youth World Cup in New Zealand undefeated and India A team has gone from strength to strength competing against England Lions and defeating West Indies A on a recent England tour. India A won the List A tri-series on the tour as well.
Rahul Dravid had mentored the IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils before putting his name in the hat for India A coach. In June 2015, he was chosen the coach of both India A and U19 team and in 2016, the U19 team reached the finals of the Youth World Cup.
He has inspired lots of players under his coaching and the likes of Prithvi Shaw and Hanuma Vihari have made it into the Indian squad and others like Mohammed Siraj and Mayank Agarwal are knocking on the door for their opportunities.
He is looked upon by most of the cricketers with respect and other players value his opinion on everything. Given that he was a very technically proficient batsman, with exceptional record wherever he played; his experience will help India on it upcoming foreign tours and even when they face tough competition at home.