Virat’s ‘choice’ Shastri pips Viru, Moody to return as coach
“Even before the World Cup started, we said that we were going to do our best and not have to depend on other teams. Obviously, all that now comes into the picture, so we’ll do what we do best – that is winning the next two games, and then we’ll see what happens.”
Meg Lanning will be one of Australia’s many threats to India. The captain is making a return from a shoulder injury and is looking to waste no time in getting back to peak form.
“Against
England was not our best performance with the ball but hopefully we can learn from that pretty quickly and come back for India.
“There are no easy games from here for us and the games against India and South Africa are going to be tricky. We have to bounce back and put on a strong performance,” Meg said.
“Going forward, we need to look at the types of bowlers that are tying us down. Alex Hartley had a good game but perhaps we could have bit a put more pressure on her.
“We’ve spoken about it a fair bit as a bowling unit trying to minimise those extras and 32 wides is way too many and something we are going to have to improve on moving forward.”
After much drama, Ravi Shastri was appointed the India head coach, pipping Virender Sehwag and Tom Moody to the post. Shastri’s appointment ends a roller-coaster journey in which the dressing room endured a turbulent times with reports of friction between skipper Virat Kohli and coach Anil Kumble.
The decision to name the coach was scheduled to take place on Monday but the Cricket Advisory Committee of Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar deferred the decision stating they wanted to consult Kohli first.
But, Vinod Rai, head of the Committee of Administrators (CoA), made it clear that the decision on had to be taken on Tuesday. There was drama while naming the coach. Media reports in the evening named Shastri as coach but Amitabh Choudhary, the acting secretary of the BCCI, said no decision had been made.
However, by night, the BCCI confirmed Shastri’s appointment, with Zaheer Khan as the bowling coach. Rahul Dravid was named batting consultant for overseas Test tours.
For Shastri, this is his third stint with the Indian team. In 2007, following India’s disastrous World Cup campaign, Shastri was appointed manager for the tour to Bangladesh. Following the series, Shastri was appointed head of the National Cricket Academy in 2008.
In 2014, Shastri was once again called upon to head the team. India had lost the Test series against England 3-1 and there were questions on coach Duncan Fletcher’s ability.
The BCCI appointed Shastri as Team Director and his second innings was a lot more fruitful. India won the ODI series against England, secured a Test series win in Sri Lanka for the first time in 22 years. India reached the semi-finals of the 2015 World Cup and the 2016 World T20.
Following the World T20, Shastri’s tenure was not extended and Kumble was appointed coach.
As a player, Shastri was one of the pillars of the Indian team in the 80s and early 90s. He typified the Mumbai school of grit, starting out as a lower order batsman but going on to open the batting and also supplement it with slow left-arm orthodox bowling.
His all-round show (182 runs at an average of 45.5 and eight wickets) helped Shastri win the Champion of Champions title at the 1985 Benson & Hedges World Championship that India won beating Pakistan in the final. In Tests, he is best remembered for an epic knock of 206, which he scored against Australia in Sydney in 1992.
CRUNCH GAME After winning four games each, both teams will be eager to clinch spot in last four Against England was not our best performance with the ball but hopefully we can learn from that pretty quickly and come back for India. We need to pull ourselves back from the defeat. The best cricket that we can play is there, so hopefully it will come against Australia.