Ravi Shastri is considered to be one of the most successful head coaches the Indian team ever had. He had an amazing tenure from 2017 to 2021, during which India remained No. 1 in Tests and reached the semi-final of the ICC World Cup 2019.
However, before he became the head coach of the Indian team, Shastri also served as the director of cricket of the Indian team in 2014. His tenure came to an end in 2016, when the BCCI’s Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) of Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, and VVS Laxman shortlisted Anil Kumble to become the head coach of the Indian team.
However, Kumble only managed to last just about two years before resigning due to differences with India captain Virat Kohli. Ravi Shastri was then chosen as the new head coach of the Indian team.
According to Ravi Shastri, the CAC committee urged him to seek to be the head coach because they wanted to eliminate the team director post. But he believed that there was a hidden agenda behind his dismissal and that he should have been allowed to continue on the basis of merit.
"In 2014 I took over; I was the director of the side and came in 2016. They said, No, we don't want any director now. You apply for a head coach position. And there should have been no reason why I should not have carried on sheer merit. So, there was obviously some other reason, some motive behind why you were shafted out. Okay," Ravi Shastri said in an interaction with Republic TV.
Ravi Shastri also admitted that he was hurt at this call because he had given his heart and soul in building the team and helping them achieve success.
“That hurt me. You know, that hurt me; if I look back at my career, that hurt me a lot because you had given your heart and soul in getting the team to where it was, and you could see, you know, the fruits being delivered in a matter of time. Now and then you had to go and sit out," he added.
After being fired from his position as team director, Ravi Shastri added that he learned a lot. Even though his departure hurt him for a while, he turned back to commentary. He returned as head coach in 2017, and enjoyed a fruitful spell until 2021.
"So, I said, okay, you know, it hurt you for a while. Then I went back to commentary and carried on with the game. I said, okay, that was a good experience for a year and a half. It taught me a lot, you know; it got me back into the dressing room. It taught me how the players think. In the modern era, how Gen Z thinks. You know, and, you know, leave it at that. It was; it was a bad knock on the knuckles.
But anyway, you took it, you moved on, and then you got the opportunity again. And, you know, it's again, like in cricket, you know, when you come back, you come back stronger. And you know, what happened is history," he added.
