Breaking: Ravi Shastri Retains India Head Coach Post

Kapil Dev-led Cricket Advisory Committee, on Friday, named incumbent Ravi Shastri as India coach once again. The panel interviewed five of the six shortlisted candidates at the BCCI headquarters on Friday. Along with Ravi Shastri, Tom Moody, Mike Hesson, Lalchand Rajput and Robin Singh were also interviewed. Phil Simmons had pulled out of the interview at the last minute.

Kapil Dev told the reporters that Shastri was the first choice of the panel for the India coach. Hesson and Moody were second and third choice respectively. Well, Shastri’s re-appointment was always on the cards. Shastri’s tenure will come to an end after the World T20 in 2021.

“We had a marking system and all three of us were unanimous in our decision with mark that these were the results,” Kapil Dev told the media.

“Shastri’s term will be till 2021. We didn’t take any inputs from skipper Virat Kohli, if we did that then we would have to take the inputs from the entire Indian team,” he added.

The CAC reappoints Mr Ravi Shastri as the Head Coach of the Indian Cricket Team. pic.twitter.com/vLqgkyj7I2

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 16, 2019

Shastri has done a fine job as head coach since taking charge in 2017. Earlier this year, India won their first-ever Test series and bilateral ODI series in Australia. The Men in Blue then won the ODI series in New Zealand 4-1. Last year, the team won ODI series and T20I series in South Africa before winning the Nidahas Trophy. It was followed by a T20I series win in England and a triumphant campaign in the Asia Cup.

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What further strengthened Shastri’s case was his working relationship with India captain Virat Kohli. Before departing for the ongoing tour of West Indies, Kohli had publicly expressed his desire of seeing Shastri as India coach again,

In his just-concluded tenure, Shastri helped India win 11 Tests (played 21, lost seven). Under his tenure, India have been on the top of ICC Test rankings although they lost Test series in South Africa and England. During this period, India won 44 of their 61 ODIs and made the semifinal of the 2019 World Cup. They also won 25 out of the 36 T20Is during this phase.

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