Ravi Shastri retained as India head coach

The Kapil Dev-led Cricket Advisory Committee, which conducted the interviews with short-listed candidates at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) headquarters, handed 57-year-old Shastri his third stint.

Published : Aug 16, 2019 18:13 IST , MUMBAI

Shastri’s track record with the Indian team and his rapport with the Indian players helped him bag the job.
Shastri’s track record with the Indian team and his rapport with the Indian players helped him bag the job.
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Shastri’s track record with the Indian team and his rapport with the Indian players helped him bag the job.

Ravi Shastri has been retained as the head coach of the Indian cricket team for a two-year term. The Kapil Dev-led Cricket Advisory Committee, which conducted the interviews with short-listed candidates at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) headquarters on Friday, handed 57-year-old Shastri his third stint.

Shastri — who is currently with the team in the West Indies — appeared for the interview via Skype and gave a detailed presentation on the road map for the future. The CAC — comprising Kapil, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy — interviewed five short-listed candidates — Lalchand Rajput, Robin Singh, Mike Hesson, Tom Moody and Shastri — throughout the day before zeroing in on the former India captain for the job.

READ| Our consistency across formats has been magnificent, says Shastri

The CAC had originally selected six candidates, but West Indies’ Phil Simmons opted out of the process citing personal reasons.

Shastri is currently in his second stint, having also donned the role of the Team Director earlier. Under his guidance, the team reached the semifinals of the World Cup in 2015 and WT20 in 2016. As the head coach, Shastri guided India to its maiden Test series win in Australia last year, and the team also reached the semifinals in the World Cup in England last month.

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While top officials in the Board have confirmed that the CAC was impressed with the presentation of former New Zealand coach Hesson, the decision to select Shastri was taken keeping his track record in mind. “Both Hesson and Moody came up with good presentations. They had a clear road map for the future,” one of the officials said.

In 2017 too, Moody had given the best presentation among the candidates because of his experience of working with the Indian players in Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab. Under his watch, Sunrisers Hyderabad won the Indian Premier League in 2016.

In the end, Shastri’s track record with the Indian team and his rapport with the Indian players helped him bag the job. Before leaving for the West Indies, India captain Virat Kohli had thrown his weight behind Shastri. “With Ravi  bhai , all of us have a great camaraderie. Everyone in the team shares mutual respect and we have done well together as a group. We will be very happy if he is continuing as the coach,” Kohli had said.

But the CAC members made it clear that they did not consult with the Indian captain before giving another term to Shastri.

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