We will try all combinations before World T20: Shastri

Ranchi, Feb. 11: Not too affected by India’s surprise loss to Sri Lanka in the first T20, team director Ravi Shastri on Thursday said the “endeavour” was to try out various combinations by giving everyone opportunities ahead of the big- ticket World Twenty20 next month. “Ideal scenario would be to give most of the guys who are part of the World Cup squad a run. That will be the endeavour but you will have to see what the conditions are, what the state of the series is and accordingly

We are employed by BCCI and they will judge the performance. My job is to take care of the Indian team.

— RAVI SHASTRI

decide,” Shastri said at the pre- match press conference.

The former captain said he is focused on the World T20 and not thinking about the possibility of becoming a full time coach of the India team.

“I don’t know. We have time till World Cup we will see after that,” Shastri said, asked about the full time coaching job, adding, “As I had said time and time again we live in the present. Focus should be till the World Cup. We are employed by BCCI and they will judge the performance. My job is to take care of the Indian team.”

Asked about the criticism of the pitch following the first game, he said, “If the pitch is good we say it’s good. If the pitch does a lot we will say, it does a lot. Why should we be scared of saying what we feel? It’s very clear that it did a little too much but we should have adapted well.

“No excuses for losing the match but we should have scored 140, it would have been a good competitive score on that surface.”

He felt consistency was not a problem with the current team. “It’s a confident side, they played some very good cricket in the last 18 months or two years.”