Former India cricketer and head coach Ravi Shastri reacted to the guidlines that BCCI had implemented following the Men in Blue's 3-1 defeat to Australia in the Border-Gavaskar series 2024/25. Among the guidelines, one that drew a lot of attention was regarding the number of personal staff that a player was allowed during a tour. It was speculated that a lot of players in the team travelled with their personal chefs.
Shastri's verdict on BCCI guidelines
However, Shastri revealed that no player used to have personal chefs during his time as head coach. He jokingly added that he wouldn't mind if someone did bring his chef to the tour as then the cuisine could have been a lot different.
“I don’t remember anyone coming in with a chef in my time because that chef would have been very busy with me. I wouldn’t have minded one or two, because then at least the cuisine could have been different with a glass of red. You don’t have to go to room service all the time. After a while, on tours, you want to minimize things. When there are too many people around, you tend to get distracted,” Shastri said on The Grade Cricketer.
Shastri further acknowledged that things must have gotten "out of hand" and that is why BCCI decided to implement such strict guidelines. He then highlighted how it is a good thing for the team to have a "calm and stable" captain like Shubman Gill.
“He (Gambhir) must have seen it’s getting out of hand. So he just put a limit on what can be done and what cannot be done. The good thing for him is that he has got a captain now who is stable, composed, and calm. Gill is the man for the next decade for India. What Gambhir will be looking out for is a nice bench of fast bowlers. With Shami retiring, and Bumrah’s workload management, you need another three to be groomed quickly,” Shastri added.
India's schedule against Australia
Meanwhile, India will be hoping to put their previous tour of Australia behind them and will be focusing on the upcoming three-match ODI assignment against the Baggy Greens. The series will begin on October 19 and the first match will be played at the Optus stadium in Perth. The action will then move to the Adelaide Oval where the second match will be held on October 23 and the series finale will take place at the Sydney Cricket Ground on October 25. Following this, the two teams will face-off in a five-match T20I series that will begin from October 29.