It was not the perfect send off for Ravi Shastri but Team India’s head coach was astute in his farewell sermon.
“We are not scared of losing... in trying to win, you will lose a game,” Shastri was eloquent in his evaluation of the team’s attitude before the match against Namibia in Dubai on Monday.
Ironic? Yes.
This much talked about fearless approach, which had brought about success during the Shastri-Virat Kohli era, was conspicuous by its absence during India’s opening two matches in the T20 World Cup. The consequences have been catastrophic with no amount of good cricket being able to repair the damage caused by the losses to Pakistan and New Zealand.
The duo’s association has very little achievements to show in white-ball cricket, the success in Tests notwithstanding. As Rahul Dravid prepares to take over the mantle of pushing Indian cricket to that desired next level, attaining titles in limited-overs variety will be his priority.
Outgoing head coach Ravi Shastri hugs Virat Kohli after the Namibia match — the India skipper’s last as T20I captain — on Monday. Twitter
There’s not much time at his disposal — the next edition of the T20 World Cup in Australia is less than a year away followed by the ODI World Cup at home in 2023. It will not be about rebuilding the team but identifying specialists who could handle pressure and help them achieve a winning mentality on the big occasions, especially in ICC tournaments.
Dravid has been through apprenticeship in coaching as head of cricket at National Cricket Academy in Bangalore and knows some of these youngsters inside out. He has the patience, and most importantly, possesses a shrewd mind, besides being a good communicator.
The new head coach will enter the bio-bubble before the end of this week in Jaipur ahead of the first T20I against New Zealand on November 17. Expect a few of the stars to be given a break before the Test series against the Black Caps as the national selectors get down to name the captain and the squads on Tuesday.
Dravid’s opinion will be important as rookies like Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devdutt Paddikal, Venkatesh Iyer, Avesh Khan and Harshal Patel are expected to make the grade. A perfectionist to the core, he will never make the mistake of picking someone who doesn’t fit into the scheme of things.
Form had never been the yardstick when the squad was picked for the T20 World Cup. A Rahul Chahar, who didn’t even make the Mumbai Indians XI regularly, got the chance only because the selectors chose to remain blind. On the flip side, Yuzvendra Chahal, who was among the best bowlers in the IPL with an economy of 7.05, was overlooked.
The whims of Chetan Sharma and Co. led to Shardul Thakur’s inclusion by virtue of his IPL performance, replacing Axar Patel, but Chahal’s claims went unnoticed. The same applies for Bhuvneshwar Kumar who never looked imposing for SunrisersHyderabad.
Knowing fully well that some of the players looked indifferent in the second leg of the IPL, the selectors chose to be silent. While the Pakistan selectors made multiple changes to the original squad, even bringing in the experienced Shoaib Malik as a late replacement, their Indian counterparts stuck to their beliefs.
The tactical blunders have also been manifold. Innumerable times in the past the batsmen have fallen prey to the incoming deliveries from left-arm pacers. Shaheen Shah Afridi and Trent Boult showed that the vulnerability persists.
Once the openers were removed inside the first three overs, the middle order collapsed. While Kohli’s insistence on Hardik Pandya as a finisher never paid off in key encounters, the move to bench Ravichandran Ashwin defied logic. No questions have been asked nor has anyone been held accountable in the world’s richest cricket board, which has a former captain at its helm.
It’s not been about the fearless approach, at least not in the UAE, as Shastri would like to make us believe. Rather it’s the fear of losing that made our bravehearts look timid in Dubai.
