5 things India gained from the Ravi Shastri era
In the second semi-final of the ICC World T20 at Mumbai, the West Indies beat India by 7 wickets which led to India’s ouster from the tournament. The defeat also marked the end of Ravi Shastri’s tenure as the director of the Indian cricket team. It was a position which the former India all-rounder had held since August 2014. Given that the 53-year old was at the helm of the Indian team’s backroom proceedings for almost 2 years, India did gain quite a lot from his vast experience. Let’s take a look at a few of these things:
#1 Self Confidence
When you have a coach who is often seen slumping in a chair in front of his laptop, one who is never really seen actively involved with the team, you don’t really expect your team to be beaming with confidence. That exactly was the case when Duncan Fletcher was the sole man in charge of the Indian team. Enter Ravi Shastri and there was a radical change that could be seen in the team’s body language.
Right from his playing days, Shastri has been seen as a man who is always buzzing. He has a sort of contagious energy which has an effect on everybody around him. It was, therefore, no surprise that the Indian team had transformed into a confident unit, just a few months into the Ravi Shastri era.
The Indian team was no longer afraid of taking on any challenge that was thrown at them. Be it the Australian tour where a young Indian batting order was up against the Australian pace battery or the Asia Cup final where the Men in Blue were playing in front of a hostile crowd, Team India did not shy away from challenges and rose to the occasion.
When opponents hurled words at them, they gave it back in equal measure. Mitchell Johnson’s stares were answered with Virat Kohli’s glares. Dhammika Prasad’s effort to rattle Ishant Sharma was met with the latter bowling some unplayable deliveries at the former. All in all, it seemed as if the Indian team’s director had made each member aware of his abilities and had instilled a lot of confidence in them to go out and perform to the best of their ability.