Ravi Shastri re-appointed as head coach of Indian men’s team
Mumbai, August 16:
Ravi Shastri was Friday re-appointed head coach of the Indian men’s team by the Kapil Dev-led Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), which unanimously felt that the incumbent’s communication skills and understanding of team issues stood out.
Shastri, who had the public backing of captain Virat Kohli even before the short-listing was initiated, has been reappointed for a two-year period, ending with the 2021 T20 World Cup in India. The three-member CAC also comprised former India coach Anshuman Gaekwad and ex women’s captain Shantha Rangaswamy.
This will be Shastri’s fourth stint with the national team, having served briefly as the Cricket Manager (2007 tour of Bangladesh), Team Director (2014-2016) and head coach (2017-2019).
The interview of all the shortlisted candidates took place at the BCCI headquarters here for the appointment of the coach.
“After the meeting of four-six hours, all three of us had our own marking. We all unanimously decided after doing all the accounts and numbers which took a little bit of time. Number three is Tom Moody, number two is Mike (Hesson) from New Zealand very intelligent and very good. And number one is Ravi Shastri which you all were expecting,” Kapil Dev told reporters.
There were five parameters on which all the candidates were marked. The parameters were: Coaching philosophy, Experience of coaching, Achievements in coaching, Communication, and Knowledge of modern coaching tools.
Anshuman Gaekwad said that Shastri is ‘well-versed’ with the entire system.
“Being the current coach, knowing the boys well, knowing the problems well in the team and what needs to be done. I think he is well-versed with the entire system while the others were not. They probably had to start,” Gaekwad said.
Dev also added that they did not consult anyone when asked whether India captain Virat Kohli played any role in the selection.
On August 12, BCCI had shortlisted six candidates for the men’s team’s head coach. The six candidates for the position were: Robin Singh, Lalchand Rajput, Mike Hesson, Tom Moody, Phil Simmons, and Ravi Shastri.
India have won 11 out of 21 Tests, 43 out of 60 ODIs and 25 T20 Internationals out of 36 on his watch.