Ravi Shastri says not winning an ICC tournament under his tenure as head coach of the Indian men’s team is not a “regret” but certainly a cause of “disappointment”. The former India allrounder, who oversaw some of India’s most remarkable Test wins, feels that his team was “good enough” to also lift at least two major ICC trophies.
Under Shastri’s tenure, India came closest to winning an ICC title back in 2019 when they had topped the league stage of the 50-over World Cup in the UK but suffered a bitter loss in the semi-final to New Zealand.
In their second go at an ICC trophy with Shastri around, India suffered painful defeats to Pakistan and NZ at the start of the Super 12 stage at the T20 World Cup 2021. Leaving too much ground to recover after those losses, India crashed out of the semi-final race.
In a world where such events shape much of the discourse around cricket teams and the individuals involved, Shastri would know his team could be looked at as a failure by some. But while he is not worried over what the naysayers may have to say, he accepted that the lack of an ICC trophy is certainly a disappointment.
“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 was quoted as saying by Times Now.
The 59-year-old first joined the side as a Director of Cricket in 2014, before earning an official appointment as the head coach in 2017. From the start of August 2017 to date, India have won 24 of their 42 Tests, 53 of their 79 ODIs and 44 of their 68 T20Is, losing a collect of only 56 internationals over four years.
Shastri’s outstanding triumph as a coach came in Australia, where India clinched their first-ever Test series victory back in 2018-19 and repeated their great feat on the 2020-21 trip.
Even more than that, Shastri’s biggest success was creating a dressing room atmosphere, along with skipper Virat Kohli, where young players could flourish and play their natural games without worrying about the failures.
