There Is Enough Mutual Respect - Ravi Shastri Speaks About His Relationship With BCCI President Sourav Ganguly

It is no secret that the relationship between Ravi Shastri, the former India head coach, and BCCI President Sourav Ganguly hasn’t been the best over the years.

It was a heated topic when the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman picked Anil Kumble as the head coach over him in 2016. However, now, both of them have maintained a cordial in the past four years as Ravi Shastri became the head coach.

The outgoing coach said that he and Ganguly are “buddies” who have plenty of mutual respect.

“We are buddies. Not that we play marbles with each other everyday but there is enough mutual respect,” Ravi Shastri told India Today.

Ravi Shastri added that whatever the differences they have had, he has left them in the past, and now is proud of the outstanding winning record the team has achieved in the past few years under his coaching and with Ganguly as the BCCI President.

“All that in the past. When you have a winning record of over 70 percent in all formats, I don’t have to answer anyone. The records are out there and that is what matters.

“I can say whatever I did but if the scoresheet shows that is not true, you can’t argue. You just have to shut up, put your tail between the legs and get lost. But in this case, the facts are out there,” he added.

Against New Zealand we didn’t have the daring: Ravi Shastri

Ravi Shastri’s last tournament as head coach wasn’t the most memorable as India crashed out in the T20 World Cup group stage. He admitted that Virat Kohli’s side “lacked the daring” in their encounter against New Zealand, which the Black Caps won by 8 wickets after restricting India to 110.

He asserted that the players have been fatigued out mentally for being on the road for months, living in the bio-bubbles. Several of the players have been in different bubbles since the Test tour of England in June, which was followed by the IPL

“I think [against] Pakistan, we got the runs on the board. But against New Zealand we didn’t have the daring. That doesn’t mean we didn’t gave steel, that can’t dissapear one day. We are talking of steel over the last five-six years that has made this team one of the greats to have played the game accross formats.

“We lacked the daring and that can happen when you are fatigued mentally. When you look at the amount of time these boys have spent in a bubble, it can happen there, like it happened against New Zealand,” the 59-year-old former coach said.

The BCCI is set to announce a new set of coaching staff. According to Cricbuzz, T Dilip, Paras Mhambrey are likely to be the new fielding and bowling coaches respectively, with Vikram Rathour to continue as the batting coach, to support the new head coach, Rahul Dravid. Their first assignment would be the home T20I and Test series against New Zealand.

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