Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri (Image Credits: Twitter)

Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri opened up about his stint with the Indian men’s cricket team when he joined them as the director of the team in 2014.

Before Shastri replaced Anil Kumble as the head coach of the team in 2017, he already had the experience of managing the Indian team as team director for a period of eight months. Since Shastri took over the charge as the head coach, he instilled confidence in the team to win the overseas Test series.

I was asked to hire and fire whoever I wanted: Ravi Shastri

India won its first Test series in Australia in 2018-19 under Virat Kohli’s captaincy with Shastri as the coach. They repeated the success in the 2020-21 Border Gavaskar Trophy despite going down in the first Test appallingly. Indian team stood tall against the adversity and bounced back to win the four-match series 2-1 without the services of many of their core players.

“When I was the director of the team, it was about diagnosing problems: I was asked to hire and fire, whoever I wanted, I could get in and whoever I didn’t could be shown the door. And it was also outlining how we want to play – to be aggressive and ruthless, to up the fitness levels, to get a group of fast bowlers to take 20 wickets overseas,” Shastri told The Guardian. 

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Ravi Shastri coach of indian ,Ramakrishnan Sridhar fielding coach ofindia,Bharat Arun Bowling coach of india,Vikram Rathour India cricket batting coach during day 1 of the second test match between India and South Africa held at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune, India on the 10th October 2019 Photo by Arjun Singh / SPORTZPICS for BCCI
Ravi Shastri coach of indian ,Ramakrishnan Sridhar fielding coach ofindia,Bharat Arun Bowling coach of india,Vikram Rathour India cricket batting coach during day 1 of the second test match between India and South Africa held at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune, India on the 10th October 2019
Photo by Arjun Singh / SPORTZPICS for BCCI

“And it was about attitude, especially when playing the Aussies. I told the boys if one single ‘f*** you’ comes your way, give them three back: two in our language and one in theirs,” he added. 

Rob Key will have an adjustment period to understand the issues of England Team: Ravi Shastri

England Test side is facing a huge setback after defeats to Australia in the Ashes 2021-22 followed by the 1-0 loss to West Indies last month. England’s iconic figure Joe Root stepped down from the red-ball skipper’s role on April 15.

A couple of days after Root quit Test captaincy, veteran commentator Rob Key was appointed as the Managing Director of England men’s cricket team. Just like Shastri, the former England player took the role of a team director after having a vast amount of experience in the commentary box.

Shastri advised England’s new Managing Director to have a detailed conversation with Root to discuss the plans for reviving the Test side.

I Was Asked To Hire And Fire Whoever I Wanted - Ravi Shastri On His Role As Team India Director

“Rob will have an adjustment period to understand the issues and will need to speak in detail with Joe Root for his experiences as Test captain. But in my 24 years of commentating, I did not miss a beat or a ball of Indian cricket,” he said. 

“And he will have covered a huge amount too. So you’re not lagging behind by an inch, you’re abreast of what a team requires but also what other teams are doing,” he added. 

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Shastri is currently doing commentary in the ongoing IPL 2022 for the official broadcasters.

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