Table of Contents
Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri has reopened the old chapter of his controversial 2016 snub for the position of head coach of the national cricket team. Ravi Shastri revealed that he still feels there was some motive behind the decision to overlook him for the head coach job.
He was working as India’s team director from 2014 to 2016 and believed he had done enough to become the head coach. But the Cricket Advisory Committee, comprising Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, and VVS Laxman, picked Anil Kumble over Shastri for the top job back in 2016.
Amid this, India hit by fresh injury blow as Prasidh Krishna likely to miss New Zealand ODIs.
How Ravi Shastri became India head coach in 2017
Ravi Shastri had taken charge of the India national cricket team as director in 2014. Two years later, the BCCI decided to end the team director system and asked candidates to apply for the head coach position. Shastri also applied for the job, but he didn’t get the job at that time.
Anil Kumble was picked as India’s head coach in 2016. However, the legendary spinner resigned from his position after only one year in the role, following his relationship with captain Virat Kohli reportedly deteriorating. Following the controversy, Shastri became the new coach in 2017.
Shastri was coach of India from July 2017 to November 2021 and was in charge of 43 Tests, 76 ODIs and 65 T20Is. India won the historic Test series in Australia twice, stayed No. 1 for 42 months, reached the 2021 WTC final, won the 2018 Asia Cup, and made the 2019 World Cup semi-finals during his stint.
Ravi Shastri recalls controversial 2016 India coach role snub
Looking back, Shastri feels there was no real cricketing reason to leave him out after the work he had done with the Indian team as the director. Earlier, Ravi Shastri sends warning to those targeting Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli.
The former Indian captain believes that there was some motive behind his snub, and that made the entire episode more painful for him. Ravi Shastri was quoted as saying by Republic World, "In 2014, I took over as the director of this side.”
He further shared, "When 2016 came, 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 with sheer merit. So, there was obviously some other reason, some motive behind why you were shafted out, okay? And that hurt me.”
Ravi Shastri-Sourav Ganguly public fallout
The 2016 selection process to pick the new head coach for the India national cricket team has witnessed a public spat between the two former captains, Ravi Shastri and Sourav Ganguly.
Actually, the 1983 World Cup winner attended his interview through a video link while he was in Bangkok. Ganguly, who was part of the CAC at that time, was not present during his interview.
After Kumble got the job, Shastri criticized Ganguly's absence and felt the situation was disrespectful. Ganguly responded strongly by saying that his absence was not the reason for Shastri not getting the job. The spat later became one of the biggest talking points in 2016.
