'Fearless' Ravi Shastri's final hurrah as India coach 

Having taken over the reins of the team in tumultuous circumstances in July 2017, Ravi Shastri has had the most fascinating four years at the helm. In these years, he won literally everything at home as coach. Yet, they were followed by more questions.

“Yes you are winning at home but can you do well in Australia or England was the common refrain in end 2017?” Tired of hearing the word overseas, it had become an obsession of sorts with Ravi and the team. Now that the monkey is off his back, he is far more relaxed and philosophical. And that’s what makes him more focussed going into his last hurrah.

While the Indians did very well in the 50-over format leading into the 2019 World Cup, it was largely the result of three extraordinary batsmen batting at their best at the top. While Rohit Sharma was amazingly consistent, Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan were both sublime as well. The consistency at the top masked a few problem areas, which came to light in the World Cup semi-final. Ravi, more than anyone else, knows that.

“Yes we absolutely needed more consistency in the middle order. You cannot always depend on your top three. That’s why I was so pleased when KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Hardik Pandya started doing well. Now we have Rishabh as well, not to forget Surya Kumar Yadav. This has to happen consistently for us to feel comfortable ahead of T20 World Cup,” he had said to me a while back.

The acceptance of a problem, more than anything else, is the present Ravi Shastri. He isn’t closed to suggestions and isn’t averse to saying, “Yes there was an issue with the middle order in 2019.”

Soon after India had won the U-19 World Cup in January 2017, the country celebrated the contribution of coach Rahul Dravid. It was great to see, for Dravid had mentored the likes of Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill to perfection and had helped create a supremely talented supply line for the senior team.

Shastri no more a "Yes man" to Kohli

The Indian team has achieved some big things under the Kohli-Shastri partnership

By the same logic, credit should have been given to Shastri and the support unit when India beat Australia in Australia and England in England. Few, however, credited Shastri for a job well done. Shastri is more trolled than admired. It is almost fashionable to attack him and deny the credit due to him.

Shastri, it is important to state, is no Anil Kumble. He isn’t the most reserved person and nor is he known to be politically correct. He loves his drink and is flamboyant. But what he has done or is doing is good for the team. And that’s all that matters in the end. Many blame Shastri for replacing Kumble. To put it on record, it was Anil who replaced Ravi in June 2016.

When Ravi replaced Anil in the aftermath of the 2017 Champions Trophy, he had absolutely no hand in Anil having to move out of the job because of his differences with Virat. Ravi, busy watching Wimbledon at the time, was happily back commentating and only applied for the job in the last minute.

Since then, however, he has modeled the team into a winning unit in tandem with Virat and also Rohit and Ajinkya. He pushed for Bharat Arun as bowling coach, knowing full well that Arun had seen most of the bowlers currently playing for India come through the ranks during his stint at the NCA. He knew their strengths and weaknesses and was a hands-on coach. A chat with any of the bowlers’ and Arun’s contribution is understandable.

Shastri, some have suggested, is no more than a “Yes man” to Kohli. The truth is, however, profoundly different. He is an excellent man manager and unlike Kohli, the super talented superhero, Shastri was a limited player with a huge heart. And that’s what he has brought to the Indian dressing room. Fearless is a term much used in Indian cricket of late and it is a word that best defines Shastri’s philosophy.

From being a tailender, he managed to open the innings for India and get a hundred against the West Indies and a double hundred against Australia. A hardened professional, Shastri, as the players will stand up and vouch, is never guarded while protecting them. That’s what he will bring to the fore in the UAE for his final tenure as coach and who knows, it will get him the desired results, something he so deeply craves for, having come close multiple times in his four years at the helm.