Ravi Shastri Defended Semi-Final Loss Against New Zealand During Interview For Head Coach Job: Report

Ravi Shastri retained his job as the head coach of Indian cricket team as the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) reappointed the former India all-rounder in the job for another two years. He was the clear favourite to be retained and it was only the question about who will come next to him.

Breaking: Ravi Shastri reappointed as team India’s head coach

Shastri had results to show to the CAC and not to forget, he also had the backing of Virat Kohli, who has always shared good rapport with Shastri.

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It’s not that India remained undefeated under Shastri or won a World Cup. They did well and also made it to the semi-final of World Cup 2019. However, the team failed to cross the finishing line for the second consecutive time, which could have gone against Shastri.

Also Read: We didn’t take any inputs from Virat Kohli, says Kapil Dev

As per a report in IANS, Shastri was asked about the World Cup in his interview but the head coach defended himself by making it clear that one bad day doesn’t make this team bad.

“There were some pointed questions and one of them to Shastri was what went wrong in the semi-final against New Zealand. He made it clear that one bad day doesn’t make this team bad. In fact, he emphasized on how he has unfinished business as the team now looks to gear up for not one, but two World T20s — 2020 and 2021. The confidence with which he said this made the committee believe that Shastri is the man who needs to guide this team forward,” a source told IANS.

India lost the semi-final to New Zealand as they failed to chase down a target of 240. India had also to South Africa and England in Test series in 2018.

Shastri’s peak as the coach came in 2018/19 when Virat Kohli-led India became the first Asian team to defeat Australia in Australia in the longest format of the game. Since the first tour to the country, no Indian team had defeated Australia down under.

While Shastri has retained his job as head coach, there is no guarantee that other members of the coaching staff will also be retained. For now, only Bharat Arun is the favourite to keep his job as the bowling coach of India.

Sanjay Bangar could be replaced as the assistant coach cum batting coach. A report in TOI had suggested that Vikram Rathour could replace Bangar as the batting coach. He has served as the national selector from 2012 t0 2016.

R Sridhar has done well as team India’s fielding but since there is Jonty Rhodes in the race as well, there is no surety that he will keep his job. It remains to be seen if Rhodes can pip Sridhar for the position.