If I were Andrew Strauss, the interim managing director of the English men’s cricket, I would seriously consider Shastri as head coach; not just England, even Aus
Former India coach Ravi Shastri. Pic/Getty Images
The debacle in The Ashes has seen heads rolling in English cricket with the Managing Director of men’s cricket Ashley Giles exiting along with the coach Chris Silverwood and assistant coach Graham Thorpe. There could be some more resignations before the month is done.
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Langer’s shock resignation
As this is being written, news has come in that Justin Langer has resigned as the coach of the Australian team. His contract was to expire in June anyway, but after a meeting with the Australian Cricket chiefs he has stepped down. Last year after the unexpected defeat to India there were stories leaked to the media that he was too stern and emotional and that players were walking on egg shells while he was around. Very conveniently the blame for the loss was being left at his door instead of looking at where the players had underperformed. After these reports came out Langer said he took note of that and would try to tone down his style. Whether he did that or not is immaterial, but the fact is that Australia won the ICC T20 World Cup for the first time and then went on to beat England to win The Ashes. After such results one would expect that the coach would get an extension, but that’s not what has happened and we have Langer’s resignation. Player power is no bad thing where they are looking to get themselves the best in terms of facilities, infrastructure and guidance to be the best they can be, but when it trickles down to deciding who should be the coach then it is entering the murky world of politics.
How many of us liked our teachers in school or professors in college? Did we go to the Principal to ask that he/she sack them?
Silverwood’s blunders
What Langer’s resignation tells you are the two sides of a coin where the English coach apparently lost his job because of selection blunders and also for being too cosy with the players and Langer lost the players because he was too strict and a disciplinarian. Australia have named Andrew McDonald as the interim coach.
For England too, there may be an interim coach for the Test section of the West Indies tour next month and if the process takes longer then it could well be mid-July by which time the new coach could be appointed. The English complex about the Aussies and to a certain extent South Africans, means that the names of prospective coaches doing the rounds are mainly of Aussie and South African guys. There’s Mahela Jayawardene who also gets a mention. However, if I were Andrew Strauss, the interim managing director of England men’s cricket, I would seriously consider Ravi Shastri too. Ravi did a magnificent job over the years he was with the Indian team, but none better than when he along with Ajinkya Rahane lifted the team after the ignominy of being dismissed for 36 and then to go on to win the series 2-1 in Australia in 2020-21. This despite the captain and best batsman in the team leaving after that disaster. It was Shastri and Rahane who turned it around and that’s why Strauss would do well to check if Ravi is available. Not just England, but even Australia, now that it doesn’t have Langer, could give Ravi a new challenge to look forward to.
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