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Ravi Shastri is the right choice for coach but has to help India win ICC events: Sourav Ganguly
Team India is yet to win a major ICC event since 2013, when they won the Champions Trophy. They reached the finals of the T20 World Cup in 2014, the semis of the 50-over World Cup a year later, the semis of the 2016 T20 World Cup and then lost in the finals of the Champions Trophy in 2017. This year they were ousted in the semis of the World Cup.
Ravi Shastri, who was appointed as the head coach of the Indian cricket team once again last week, will need to justify his re-appointment by helping India win ICC events, feels former India captain Sourav Ganguly.
"The team was capable and it still is but you have to start winning big games," Sourav Ganguly told India Today.
"The team has no dearth of talent. A team that has Virat [Kohli], Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant and Shikhar Dhawan is not short on talent. But it's also true that we lost the semi finals in 2015 World Cup, in the 2016 T20 World Cup and now in 2019 World Cup. They will have to find a way to win knockout games. That is the puzzle they need to solve. They need some luck, take some risks and find a way," Ganguly said.
The left-hander had been a member of the Cricket Advisory Committee that had picked Anil Kumble ahead of Ravi Shastri as the head coach of the side in 2016. Kumble was in charge for a year, before he resigned after reports of rifts between him and Virat Kohli. Ganguly was a member of the CAC again in 2017, but was not keen to have Shastri as the head coach. However, he bagged the job.
This time, however, Ganguly feels Shastri is the right person for the role. "Ravi is the right choice. They (Kapil Dev-led CAC) didn't have too many choices as not many had applied," Ganguly added.
He added that Shastri's biggest test will be in the ICC events. Team India is yet to win a major ICC event since 2013, when they won the Champions Trophy. They reached the finals of the T20 World Cup in 2014, the semis of the 50-over World Cup a year later, the semis of the 2016 T20 World Cup and then lost in the finals of the Champions Trophy in 2017.
This year they were ousted in the semis of the World Cup.
"Ravi has been doing this for five years (except one year of Anil Kumble) and now been given this responsibility for two more years. So I don't think anyone else in history has got such a long time with the team. He is the right choice but he now has to justify. He has two T20 World Cups ahead and in such big tournaments, India needs to find ways to win them," Ganguly said.
