Shastri’s tenure as the coach of the Indian team was a eventful one. Perhaps, after John Wright, it was Shastri who has had a successful term. There were multiple series wins in Australia and under his watch, India led the series in England. South Africa will always remain a bloat as well as the lack of ICC titles. Let me offer my two cents in eventful Shastri’s coaching stint.
His coaching career had a rocky beginning and end as one following the early exit in the 2021 T20 World Cup. He took over the role after Kumble termed his stint as untenable and resigned from the post. Kohli fought for Shastri and finally got him to be the coach. I have always felt that India never utilised the services of Shastri the captain. He has good cricketing brain. In the short period when he was the captain following Vengsarkar’s injury, he won a Test match against the mighty West Indies when he picked the leg-spinner Narendra Hirwani. Shastri was aggressive and positive.
However, the Indian selectors did not think that Shastri could make a good captain. They went from Vengsarkar to Srikkanth and to Azharuddin. I felt that when Gavaskar and Kapil Dev relinquished captaincy, it must have gone to Shastri rather than Vengsarkar. This is akin to Australia not utilising the services of Shane Warne the captain. Anyway, it was in the past.
Union of minds
Shastri and Kohli are naturally aggressive cricketers and they formed an union that merged the thoughts of each other quite beautifully. Shastri had been a player himself and had a very long commentary stint. During that time, he had seen India lose many a series. Especially, outside of home. He had read media reports and heard comments ridiculing the Indian team as being tigers at home and lambs abroad. Naturally, he longed for an Indian team that can win anywhere and when offered the opportunity to coach the team, he accepted with glee. In Kohli he found a wonderful partner who can implement his vision. He said in one of the interview that he wanted to make a difference when he took over the job.
Highlights of his tenure
The highlight of his term was ofcourse the twin series wins in Australia. 2018 & 2020. It is something that will be etched in the annals of Indian folklore forever. Never before have an Asian team won in Australia and there was the Indian team winning in Australia twice. The 2018 win, though sweet, did not feel wholesome for obvious reasons but the 2020 win was an exceptional achievement. India played with 3rd choice bowling attack and still found a way to win.
The next memorable series was ofcourse the lead in the England series. India have found England quite tough in their own conditions. 0-4 in 2011, 1-3 in 20155 and 1-4 the next time around. The moment the team land in England, they get nervous but it wasn’t the case in 2020. The team wanted to make a statement and they did that emphatically. Especially, the win at The Oval on a pitch that literally destroyed every bowler. India found ways to win that game.
Another memorable series was the clean sweep of Sri Lanka. It is not easy to win all the games across formats even at home but here was India winning all the 9 games. It was an extraordinary achievement. Granted Sri Lanka are not the same force they were at home when Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Murali and Jayasurya were in the team but to win every game of a tour will always be tough.
Under Shastri, India were invincible at home.
Lows during his tenure
First, the lack of an ICC trophy. It will surely rankle Shastri forever. Under him, the team had multiple opportunities and yet, were unable to transcend the final hurdle.
“When I took over the job five years ago, the team has exceeded those expectations and that for me is the ultimate thing. It’s not a regret, the team has done so well across formats over the years. It’s a disappointment. Because in my mind this team was good enough to win at least 2 ICC trophies (in my tenure),” Shastri said
Two, lack of series wins in South Africa and New Zealand. Alongwith Australia and England, Indians have found tough to tour South Africa and New Zealand. They had a wonderful opportunity in 2018 when little bit of preparation would have ensured winning the series. For some reason, Kohli and Shastri cancelled the only tour game and did not put their foot down and demand of the BCCI to leave early for the tour.
Three, perhaps more glaringly, failure to win or atleast draw the WTC finals against New Zealand. Poor team selection with two spinners when the conditions called for none or at the most Jadeja only.
Wrapping up eventful Shastri’s coaching stint
India under his watch was never the world beating team as Shastri would want all of us to believe. They were good but never great. He never talks about the failures but is rather content on hyping the successes. He mentions in various interviews the series wins in West Indies who have long ago ceased to be a proper cricket team. There surely were a lot of memorable moments but there were equally forgettable moments as well. On the whole, his tenure can be classified as 60% success and 40% failure.