India's head coach Ravi Shastri had become a laughing stock when he called the current Indian team as best side to travel overseas in the last 15-20 years. But now after winning the Test and ODI series against Australia, followed by ODI series triumph in New Zealand, Shastri has decided to hit back at people who targetted him.
In an interview with Cricbuzz, Shastri said, "I used the phrase 'across all formats'. When I said that the endeavor is to be the best traveling team in the world, six months ago people laughed at me. When I said this is the best traveling team in the world across all formats, they laughed. Today, they know, I wasn't speaking French.
"We hadn't been to South Africa before (under me), but to go there and beat them 5-1 after 25 years (in ODIs). Before that, we had won 3-1 in England (2014 in ODIs) and we won a T20I series in Australia 3-0 (2016)."
India's bowling attack has been their biggest positive in the last few series wins. They played a vital role in laying the foundation of the win. Crediting them for being pivotal in India's dream run, he mentioned them along with Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara's batting effort.
The Yo-Yo test was made mandatory to be chosen for the Indian side. He also talked about it and how people used to take it as a joke that how can be a fitness Test be the main criteria of selection.
"When we mentioned the Yo-Yo test a year ago, people laughed that it was criteria for selection. What they missed was that was a very important part of the selection. You have to first clear that criterion and then, of course, you have batting, bowling and fielding skills to talk to be selected. But you have to pass that test as a benchmark," he asserted.
"None of the fast bowlers broke down – neither did Ishant Sharma nor Jasprit Bumrah. Ishant was brilliant with 40-plus wickets. When you have bowlers hunting in a pack, there is no breakaway with someone taking 60 and the others 20-30 wickets. When all three are in the 40s, you know these guys are hunting in a pack. We always had individual brilliance but this was a sustained team effort," Shastri said.
(With Cricbuzz Inputs)
