Gavaskar puts Shastri's defence of team under spotlight
During his defence of the team's performance, what Shastri did not add, though, was that of India's nine Test wins overseas in the last three years, seven came in Sri Lanka and the West Indies.
Published : Sep 07, 2018 00:17 IST
Despite the Test series loss to England, coach Ravi Shastri's contention that he "can't see any other Indian team in the last 15-20 years that has had the same run in such a short time" came under his former captain and cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar's scrutiny.
"What I can say is teams in 1980s have won in England and West Indies. Rahul Dravid also won series in West Indies in 2005, won matches in England in 2007 and captained India when they beat South Africa for the first time. Dravid gets very little credit for his leadership and his team's wins. There have been teams who have won overseas," Gavaskar was quoted as saying by India Today .
"I will not discount wins in Sri Lanka because they are tough to beat at home but when we talk of wins, it is in England, South Africa and Australia and India have won in England before but have never won a series in South Africa and Australia," Gavaskar assessed.
During his defence of the team's performance, what Shastri did not add, though, was that of India's nine Test wins overseas in the last three years, seven came in Sri Lanka and the West Indies, with neither of those teams at their peak.
READ: Shastri: India will not throw in the towel
The statement about Indian teams in the "last 15-20 years", meanwhile, glossed over some memorable performances.
Between July 2007 and January 2011, India won series in England and New Zealand, and drew in South Africa.
Going further back, India earned honourable series draws in England and Australia between July 2002 and January 2004.
Indeed, before Sourav Ganguly's men drew 1-1 in Australia (against a very strong home side) in 2003-04, no Indian team had won a Test match in the country for nearly 23 years.