Ravi Shastri: Former Team India cricket coach Ravi Shastri believes that despite losing the Test and ODI series to a weak South African team, there is no No need to panic and the team will soon recover from this “temporary phase”. The Indian team, with caretaker skipper KL Rahul, lost the ODI series 0-3 after Virat Kohli quit all three formats. In the first set of tests, he was beaten by 1-2.
Speaking to PTI, Shastri said: “People start criticizing after you lose a streak. You can’t win every game. The wins and losses keep going.” Shastri’s tenure ended after the T20 World Cup last year. Shastri said he hadn’t even seen a ball in the series against South Africa but refused to believe the team’s level of performance had dropped.
He said: “How can the performance suddenly collapse. For five years you were the number one team in the world.” Shastri said there was nothing to worry about and the setback was a temporary phase. He said that over the past five years the pass rate was 65%, so nothing to worry about. Opposing teams should be worried.
“Kohli’s decision must be respected”
Kohli decided to step down as captain of the Test team a day after the loss in the Test series. Shastri said it was a personal decision and such decisions should be respected. “It’s his decision,” he said. His decision should be respected. Everything has a time. In the past, too many great players left the captaincy to focus on their hitter. Be it Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar or MS Dhoni and now Virat Kohli.
When asked if his body language changed after the captain episode, Shastri said, “I haven’t even seen a ball in this series, but I don’t think Virat Kohli will change much.” “I took a break from cricket after seven years. One thing is certain, I don’t talk about differences in public. As soon as my term ended, I made it clear that I would not talk about my players on a public platform.
Kohli remained India’s most successful Test captain winning 40 out of 68 Tests but under his captaincy in limited overs cricket the Indian team could not win any ICC titles. Shastri said a captain should not be judged on this basis. He said: “A lot of great players didn’t win the World Cup. What happened with that? If Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble didn’t win either, would they be called bad players?
He said: “How many World Cup winning captains do we have. Sachin Tendulkar has won after playing in six World Cups. Ultimately you are judged by your game and your role as an ambassador of the sport. How honestly did you play and for how long did you play?
On Kohli’s stance with BCCI on the captaincy issue, he said: “Dialogue is important. I don’t know what happened between them. I wasn’t part of it. I can’t say anything. without talking to both parties. In the absence of a gram, it is better to keep your mouth shut.
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