• Friday, March 29, 2024

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T20 WC: Players were drained, we didn’t even try, says Shastri

Ravi Shastri (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

By: Shubham Ghosh

OUTGOING India head coach Ravi Shastri said the Men in Blue were “mentally and physically drained” during their unsuccessful campaign at the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and didn’t even “try to win” as it wasn’t switched on during pressure situations in big games.

The 59-year-old made the stunning admission before India’s insignificant final fixture against minnow Namibia in Dubai on Monday (8). India defeated the African opponents by nine wickets but the win was not enough as Pakistan and New Zealand had already qualified for the semi-finals from Group 2.

ALSO READ: Virat Kohli steps down as T20 captain, expresses ‘relief’

India lost their first two games against the arch-rivals and the Black Caps and could never recover from that despite beating Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia and ended third in the points table.

T20 WC: Players were drained, we didn't even try, says Shastri
Virat Kolhi has failed to win a single ICC trophy for India. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)

Shastri, whose tenure as the head coach ended along with that of captain Virat Kohli who has stepped down from T20 captaincy, said that his successor Rahul Dravid has “inherited” a great team and will only raise the bar given his stature and experience. Dravid will take over the reins from Shastri from the bilateral series at home against New Zealand starting later this month.

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When former West Indies cricketer Ian Bishop, who does cricket commentary now, asked Shastri on a channel about the takeaways for India from their poor campaign in the UAE, he said, “All I can think first of is rest.”

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“I am mentally drained but I expect that at my age but these guys are physically and mentally drained. Six months in a bubble…What we would have ideally liked was a bigger gap between the IPL and the T20 World Cup…(because) when the big games come, when pressure hits you, you are not that switched on as you should be,” he added.

A number of Indian players took part in the second phase of the Indian Premier League in the UAE which ended just days before the T20 World Cup started.
Shastri, however, said that he doesn’t want to cite excuses but the team was not in the best of shape to even try and win games in the World Cup.

“It’s not an excuse. we take defeat and we are not scared of losing. In trying to win, you will lose a game but here we didn’t try to win because that X-factor was missing,” he said.

Speaking on the Indian team, Shastri said, “… there’s still a lot of players over here who will play for another 3-4 years which is very important. It is not a team in transition, overnight, it will not change. Virat is still there and as leader of the side, he is one of the biggest and best ambassadors of Test cricket… Lot of credit goes to him for the way he thought about playing the game and how the team has rallied around him.”

The former India all-rounder, who was part of India’s World Cup-winning squad in 1983, said creating a team that can win Test matches overseas gave him the greatest job satisfaction.

When asked about the high points, he said: “Across all formats, there are plenty but I would say winning in red-ball cricket across the globe, winning in West Indies, Sri Lanka, Australia. England, we are leading a series, could be the longest lead in history of Test cricket because the next Test is next year but I take that and settle for that for 12 months,” he said cheekily referring to the fifth Test that was suspended owing to a Covid-19 outbreak as India toured England.

“But to beat these sides and every team in red and white ball cricket, we have beaten sides in their den which was my endeavour and the team’s endeavour. You were always labelled as big bullies at home but when we travelled outside, we didn’t have the goods. This team has shown and more and plenty of that.”

For Shastri, there is no doubt in his mind that he has made a huge difference. “When I took up this job, in my mind I wanted to make a difference and I think I have. Sometimes in life it’s not what you accomplish but what you overcome.

“What these guys have overcome over the last five years is they have travelled across the globe and won in every corner of the globe in all formats of the game and irrespective of what happens here, it is one of the great teams of the game. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind.

It’s unfortunate that we are out of this tournament but that takes nothing away from a great side,” Shastri said.

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