Former Pakistani captain Inzamam-Ul-Haq heaped praises on Team India’s head coach Ravi Shastri and said that Shastri ensured the team did not go down after the Adelaide debacle.
Team India’s 2-1 series victory over Australia was one of the greatest comebacks to be recorded in history. After the batting debacle at Adelaide, where India was bowled out for 36 runs, their lowest Test score, and with Virat Kohli not being available for the rest of the series, the Indian team regrouped to put together three stellar performances.
Team India led by Ajinkya Rahane, despite being battered and bruised, showed great resilience and application to register historic victories at Melbourne (MCG) and Gabba, Brisbane, while showed great bravery to earn a famous draw at SCG.
All of it couldn't have been possible without the youngsters rising to the occasion, Ajinkya Rahane's role as a captain, the role of Rahul Dravid in shaping these youngsters into a finished product, but one very important factor, which people forget to mention in is head coach Ravi Shastri.
However former Pakistani Captain, Inzamam-Ul-Haq, lauded Ravi Shastri’s role in Team India and said that Shastri’s experience and game sense helped the Indian team.
“One factor that people are not mentioning is Ravi Shastri. He started as the team director and returned as the head coach, the experience and the game sense he has I feel has helped the Indian team and its players a lot. Everyone has watched him play; he was a big player for India, a terrific all-rounder,” Inzamam said on his YouTube channel.
Inzamam-Ul-Haq, 50, pointed out Shastri’s tremendous commentary skills through which one could figure out Shastri’s astute knowledge of the game. He said that he ensured the team did not go down after the batting debacle at Adelaide
“I remember when he used to do commentary, the kind of things he used to say and the eye for talent that he had, you could figure how much knowledge he had of the game. That I believe has helped this Indian team a lot.
He is a tough campaigner and it was evident by the fact that despite the Adelaide debacle, he ensured the team did not go down, and instead pulled them back up,” he said.
Ravi Shastri came on board as coach of the Indian cricket team in July of 2017 and has had a successful tenure, during which India defeated Australia 2-1 in the 2018-19 Test series to retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy and reached the semi-final of the World Cup 2019.
He was reappointed as the head coach in August 2019 until the 2021 T20 World Cup.
(Hindustan Times Inputs)
