Former India head coach Ravi Shastri had a successful tenure with the squad as under his coaching, India won two back-to-back Test series in Australia and also managed to take a lead in the Test series in England. However, the only downside in his tenure was that the side could not manage to lift an ICC trophy.
From India's tour to England till the 2015 World Cup, Shastri served as the director of the Indian cricket team for a duration of eight months in 2014. The Indian cricket team then hired him as their head coach in 2017.
He was reappointed as the senior men's Indian team's head coach in 2019 and served in that capacity through the ICC T20 World Cup in 2021.
Shastri made some in-depth remarks about his tenure and why Rahul Dravid is the best choice to lead the senior team after him during a rain delay on Day 2 of the ongoing rescheduled fifth Test against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham.
Talking to Sky Sports, Shastri said, "I think it was very rewarding, it can be a thankless job because you are judged everyday of your life by 1.4 billion people only. There is no hiding away from it, there is nothing to hide behind. You face the bullet, performances matter day in and day out. You got to win.
“The expectations are big, but the way the boys responded, when I look back at my tenure, those seven years when I was there, I am proud that I had a team that responded in the fashion they did. When I did take over, they were not playing the best of cricket as those rankings will show but towards the end, they were right up there in all formats of the game," Shastri added.
"If anything, they did not win the World Cup in that tenure of mine but otherwise some amazing performances around the globe in different countries in red-ball cricket and white-ball cricket. But nothing beats those two back-to-back series wins in Australia. That is the icing on the cake then of course, leading the series in England last year.
“The team took pride in playing red-ball cricket, Virat must be complimented for that. He led from the front, he wanted to play in that fashion, the fast-bowlers responded. You could see players evolving in that period of time, the Jadeja, Rishabh Pant," added Shastri.
While talking about Rahul Dravid, Shastri said: "No better person to take over after me than Rahul, I got that job by mistake which I told Rahul. I was in the commentary box; I was asked to go there and I did my bit. But Rahul is a guy who has come through the system, he has done the hard yards. He has been the coach of the U-19 team and he has taken over this Indian team and I think he will enjoy it once the team starts responding."
(Sky Sports inputs)
