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It was an end of an era in Indian cricket as former head coach Ravi Shastri stepped down from the top post with India's T20 World Cup 2021 ending early. There were various ups and downs during the tenure of the former coach as he opened up on his time in charge. The former World Cup-winner was quick to address his critics in his latest interview with the Times of India.
“There was always a lot of negativities around but luckily, I had no time for all of that. But those who know me well will know what a thick-skinned guy I am for such things to affect me. The more I saw people getting jealous of what this team kept achieving, the more I laughed at their insecurities. The more some people wanted this team to fail, the better we did,” 59-year-old Shastri said.
Shastri revealed the time he decided to step down from the post and not reapply. Quarantine, bio-bubbles and the age bar were few reasons that led to him bidding goodbye to the head coach job.
“Later, sometime before we left for England this year, I had made up my mind to move on. What precipitated it was a couple of reasons. First, I was pushing 60 and there were these Supreme Court rules and all. Second, I knew the quarantine and the bio-bubbles won’t go anywhere for another two years. Cricket will be played in isolation and that’s what we’re seeing right now too. So, I said enough. For how long will this carry on,” Shastri briefed on his critics.
The Shastri era was probably like, ‘so close, yet so far’ as Team India lost in the semifinals of the ODI World Cup in 2019. The team went all the way to the final of the inaugural edition of World Test Championship (WTC) but lost to New Zealand in the final. The Indian team did however win the Test series on Australian soil twice while they will also have unfinished business on English soil with Virat Kohli-led India leading the Test series by 2-1 with one Test still to go.
