Ravi Shastri minced no words and hit out at India head coach Rahul Dravid for taking frequent breaks.

Dravid skipped the team’s white-ball tour of New Zealand, starting Friday, after India’s T20 World Cup campaign with VVS Laxman taking over as interim head coach.

National Cricket Academy chief Laxman was also the stand-in head coach during India’s tour of Ireland, Zimbabwe and the home ODIs versus South Africa.

Shastri never took a break during his tenure as head coach.

Speaking during a virtual media interaction organised by official broadcasters (in the Indian territory) Prime Video on Thursday, Shastri said: “I don’t believe in breaks because I want to understand my team, I want to understand my players and I want to then be in control of that team.

“As for these breaks, what do you need that many breaks for? You get your two-three months of the IPL. That’s enough for you to rest as a coach. But other times, I think the coach should be hands-on, whoever he is.”

Shastri was all for a new T20I captain in Hardik Pandya. “For T20 cricket, there is no harm in having a new captain,” Shastri said. “If Rohit is already leading in Tests and ODIs, there is no harm in identifying a new T20I captain and if his name is Hardik Pandya, so be it.”