MUMBAI: In cricket, being the India team coach is the hardest job. You are always under the firing line with regards to team selection and results. Ask Gautam Gambhir!
After recent defeats in the Test matches and One-dayers, the current India coach has been under fire from the critics.
Ravi Shastri knows the challenges of being an India coach, having held the job for a long time from 2017 to 2021 before Rahul Dravid took over.
At an ICC event held in Mumbai on Thursday, Shastri said criticism comes with the high profile job and one has to learn to take it in stride. “In my tenure, there were good moments and there were rough moments. You just have to take it in your stride because you know there is another game coming up,” said Shastri at an event to mark the launch of partnership between Marriott Bonvoy and the ICC.
“One day you are in a pole position. The next day you are in a troll position. That can happen. But in a week, you can see all three. You can be in pole, troll, again pole,” he added.
Gambhir has put out a controversial post in reply to politician Shashi Tharoor’s post on X where the latter had referred to his job as the hardest after the Indian PM’s. “Thanks a lot Dr
@ShashiTharoor! When the dust settles, truth & logic about a coach’s supposedly “unlimited authority” will become clear. Till then I’m amused at being pitted against my own who are the very best!,” stated Gambhir.
The statement was trolled for suggesting he had limited authority in decision making.
Shastri has switched back to the role of a broadcaster where he has to give an honest opinion of a player’s performance when he has not done well. The former India coach said criticism should be constructive.
“I prefer criticism that is constructive (and) when I became a broadcaster, I said I’ve divorced the dressing room and I will speak on what I see. It doesn’t matter if you were my colleague or you were my friend when I was playing the game,” said Shastri.
Under Gambhir, India have got mixed results. The team won the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, have been on a winning spree in the T20s but have lost Test series against New Zealand and South Africa at home, and against Australia in Australia. India also lost the recent ODI series against NZ and earlier in Australia.
