Former Team India head coach Ravi Shastri revealed that he was still commentating during an international game when he was contacted by the BCCI to take up the job of the team’s director.
Shastri went on to become the head coach and during his tenure, the Indian team won the Test Mace as many as five times. Although he couldn’t win an ICC trophy, he will still be one of the best coaches in Indian cricket’s history.
“I had no warning. I was commentating at the Oval during India’s [2014] tour of England and came off air to find six or seven missed calls. ‘Seven bloody calls? What’s happened here?’. [The BCCI] just said: ‘We want you to take over, starting tomorrow, at any cost.’”
“I told them I’d have to speak to my family and commercial partners but they just said they would sort all that out. And like that, I was straight in from the commentary box.
“You’ll see when I joined the setup [during the ODIs], I was still in jeans and loafers. Instantly my job changed,” Shastri mentioned in a chat with The Guardian.
Ravi Shastri playfully turns down offer to coach England
Following a good stint with the Indian team, Shastri was asked whether he will be happy to take over as the head coach of England. The veteran playfully turned it down, saying the Indian team job took its toll.
“Haha. Oh no. Seven years with India – a full-time job, 300 days a year, 1.4 billion people judging you every day – that takes its toll. Good luck to anyone who lasts that long,” he jokingly added.
England is currently on the lookout for a head coach and Rob Key, appointed as the Managing Director of Cricket for England Men, is at the helm of it.
