Virat Kohli’s Team India did not despite being termed overwhelming favourites along-side eventual winners England lift the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup at Lord’s on July 14. England skipper Eoin Morgan held aloft the glittering trophy.
Post World Cup exit in narrow 18 run loss to New Zealand in the semi- finals, one point of discussion has been raging on in the media – will Mahendra Singh Dhoni retire or not ? It is a matter that should be left to him to decide. More the MSD’s future though , it is pertinent to put under scanner the stint of head coach Ravi Shastri.
This is second successive World Cup after 2015 ( when Shastri was Team Director and coach Duncan Fletcher. Fletcher’s term ended after semis- loss to Australia but Shastri retained his high profile Team Director job ) and in 2019 as head coach India have crashed out of the World Cup . Despite Shastri’s bravado talk.
It does not really matter whether the team played great cricket right through and bowed out after one bad day in office . The fact is India did not win the World Cup and under Shastri it has been a disaster. It is as clear as that .
If Greg Chappell could be sacked for India’s disastrous 2007 World Cup campaign , then why not the same yardstick be applied for Ravi Shastri? .
Moreover, it is very intriguing and baffling to find former players – Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan at slight instance given an opportunity ( writing columns, debate , write books mentioning Chappell ) point out the tumultuous reign of Greg Chappell as coach , but go into silent mode like former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh when one asks them to comment about Ravi Shastri’s stint as coach . There is pin drop silence from them all . Suddenly they seem to discover the diplomat within them.
Lastly, Iam not at all a Greg Chappell fan by any stretch of imagination but find disgusting this selective criticism that is so blatant . So for sheer ‘accountability’ sake alone Ravi Shastri should be replaced as head coach . Then sanity will return in Indian cricket otherwise this whole 2019 ICC World Cup review will be nothing but a joke.
