5 Former Players Who Can Replace Ravi Shastri As The Indian Coach

The Indian team has reached many highs under Ravi Shastri. He took over as the head coach after India’s loss in the 2017 Champions Trophy final against Pakistan in July. Since then India have won two away tours in Australia and one home series against England at home. While these have been the highs there have been some lows as well. Losing a Test series in England, losing the 2019 World Cup semifinal, and recently losing the World Test Championship final remain the lowest points of his coaching career.

He developed a nice relationship with Indian skipper Virat Kohli over time. Both have backed each other during tough times and the camaraderie between them was one to admire. Shastri’s contract was renewed post the 2019 World Cup and was extended till the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. One fears that if India does win that event, Shastri’s tenure with the Indian team might come to an end.

In this article, we take a look at five former players who can potentially replace Ravi Shastri as the head coach of Team India.

5 Players Who Can Replace Ravi Shastri As Team India Head Coach

Rahul Dravid

The former Indian skipper is credited for having given India the likes of Shubman Gill Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant Ishan Kishan amongst others. Under him, the Indian U-19 reached the finals in 2016 and the next lot of boys won it in 2018. The next generation of Indian cricketers have all praised Dravid for his contribution in their rise as a cricketer.

Dravid will be coaching the Indian cricket team in a white-ball series in Sri Lanka. He has already said that winning the series is his only motive. Meanwhile, he can be a very good option for the next coach’s role with the Indian team. The advantage with Dravid is his vast knowledge of the game and his knowledge about the Indian players who feel very much at home with him. He is a worthy replacement of Ravi Shastri.

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Trevor Bayliss

Bayliss has had a distinct coaching career with various teams. He has coached teams like Sri Lanka, Sydney Sixers (BBL) and England previously. His biggest achievement was leading England to a World Cup win in 2019. He took over as the coach of the side in 2015 after their infamous exit from the World Cup. He changed the entire outlook of the team, made them more competitive as a unit which resulted in the team winning the 2019 World Cup.

He was also the head coach of IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders between 2012-2014. Helping the side to win two IPL titles in three years was another big achievement of Bayliss related to Indian cricket. He has seen the Indian players from very close quarters given his time in the IPL and thus can be a good option to replace Ravi Shastri.

Tom Moody

Moody is another former cricketer who has seen the Indian players closely during his time in the IPL with Sunrisers Hyderabad. Under him, SRH won the title in 2016. He also coached the Sri Lankan team.

He also had coaching stints in the BBL and PSL besides being chosen as the International Director of Cricket for the Caribbean Premier League. Moody was replaced by Bayliss as SRH’s head coach before the start of IPL 2020. He was back again as the Director of Cricket of SRH ahead of the start of IPL 2021. He can be a very good replacement for Ravi Shastri.

Virender Sehwag

Sehwag can be an interesting choice to replace Ravi Shastri. The Delhi-lad had an international career where he made and broke a few records and played the game in his own distinctive style.

He will bring an altogether different element to coaching if he is indeed selected to replace Ravi Shastri. An instinctive player throughout his career, Sehwag had a role as the mentor of Punjab Kings in IPL briefly before he switched to commentary. It will be interesting to see what he brings to the table as Team India head coach.

Mahela Jayawardene

Jayawardene’s first coaching role was with the England national cricket team as a batting consultant in 2015. However, he became a household name in the Indian cricket circle after he joined Mumbai Indians as head coach in 2017. He replaced Ricky Ponting and under his stint led the side to three IPL titles (2017, 2019, 2020).

It is due to this achievement of his that Mahela Jayawardene can be a good prospect as the next head coach of Team India. Like Bayliss and Moddy, he too knows the Indian players inside out and can extract the best out of the players. He can certainly be a good replacement for Ravi Shastri.

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