I got the job by mistake but no better person than Rahul Dravid to be India’s head coach: Ravi Shastri

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri believes he got the job by mistake. Shastri is now back in the commentary box after his contract as the head coach of the Indian cricket team expired following the conclusion of the T20 World Cup 2021 last year. He has been replaced by the legendary Rahul Dravid, who is currently with the Indian team on their ongoing tour of England.

Shastri had taken over as the full-time head coach of the Indian team back in 2017 when he replaced Anil Kumble after India’s defeat against Pakistan in the final of the Champions Trophy that year. He formed a great relationship with former captain Virat Kohli and other senior players during his tenure to take the Indian team to greater heights.

However, Shastri believes he got the job by mistake and that there is no better person than Dravid to coach the Indian team at present. Dravid, who replaced Shastri last year, has so far had to work with several different captains due to COVID-19 and injury issues after Kohli gave up captaincy across all three formats.

During a conversation with former England captains Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton, Shastri heaped praise on Dravid, who is regarded as one of the greatest batters of all time and one of the finest coaches at present. Shastri said Dravid has done the hard yards in coaching and deserves to be the head coach of the Indian team.

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“No better person to take over after me than Rahul. I got the job by mistake. I was in the commentary box and I was asked to go there and I did my bit. But Rahul is a guy who has come through the system and done the hard yards. He’s been coach of the U-19 team and then he has taken over the Indian team and I think he will enjoy it, once the team starts responding to what he says,” Shastri said on Sky Sports.

Dravid’s immediate job at hand is to help India win their first Test series on English soil since 2007 as the visitors are currently locking horns with England in the rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston. India were leading the five-match series 2-1 last year under Shastri before the final Test was postponed due to COVID-19.

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Meanwhile, Shastri also opened up on his coaching stint with Team India and explained how India became a force to reckon with in Tests under him and Kohli. India won their maiden Test series in Australia in 2019 under Shastri before winning back-to-back Test series Down Under in 2021 despite missing a number of key players.

“The last thing I was worried about was media. If the boys performed, media will react the way you want. If you don’t do well, they have a right to smash you and if you do well, you will get the accolades. Our job was very simple, what the media did not like about Indian cricket. The fact was that we were bullies at home and we didn’t play great cricket when we were overseas,” said Shastri.

“So the job for me with the team was to prove them wrong. So, how are you going to do it? You sit with the team, you sit with Virat and say that we are going to take 20 wickets. As simple as that, take the pitch out of the equation,” added the former India head coach.