New Delhi: Former Indian cricket team coach Ravi Shastri feels that despite losing Test and ODI series to a weak South African team, Team India need not panic and the team will recover from this “temporary phase” soon. After Virat Kohli stepped down from captaincy in all three formats, the Indian team suffered a 0-3 defeat in the ODI series under the captaincy of stand-in captain KL Rahul. In the Test series, India lost 1-2 against the Proteas.
Ravi Shastri told PTI, “People start criticizing after losing a series. You can’t win every match. Winning and losing is part of the game.” Shastri’s tenure ended after the T20 World Cup last year. He said he had not seen a single ball of the series against South Africa, but refused to believe that the level of performance of the team had declined.
“How can performance suddenly drop? For five years you’ve been the number one team in the world.” Shastri said there is no need to worry and failure is a temporary period. “Win ratio has been 65 per cent for the last five years, so what is there to worry about. The opposition teams should worry.”
Kohli decided to step down as the captain of the Test team a day after losing the Test series. Shastri said it was his personal decision and such decisions should be respected. He said, “It is his decision. His decision should be respected. Everything has a time. In the past too many big players have given up captaincy to focus on their batting. Be it Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar or MS Dhoni. And now Virat Kohli.”
“I haven’t seen a single ball from this series, but I don’t think Virat Kohli will change much.” “I have taken a break from cricket after seven years. One thing is certain that I do not talk about differences in public, from the day my term ended, I made it clear that I would like to talk about my players publicly. Won’t talk to the stage,” said Shastri.
Kohli remained India’s most successful Test captain, winning 40 out of 68 Tests, but the Indian team could not win any ICC title under his captaincy in limited overs cricket. Shastri said that the captain’s assessment should not be based on this. He said, “Many big players could not win the World Cup. How does it matter? Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble also did not win, will they be called bad players?”
“How many World Cup winning captains we have, Sachin Tendulkar won after playing six World Cups. In the end, you are judged by your game and your role as the ambassador of the game. How honestly you played and how long you played ,” she added.
On Kohli’s stand with BCCI on the captaincy issue, he said, “Communication is important. I don’t know what happened between them. I was not a part of it. I can’t say anything without talking to both the sides. In the absence of information. It’s better to keep your mouth shut.”
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