Ravi Shastri has been appointed as the head coach of the Indian Men’s senior cricket team for a second successive term. The three-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) headed by Kapil Dev interviewed the shortlisted candidates and made the announcement in a media briefing in Mumbai.
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Ravi Shastri has been re-appointed for a 2-year term, which will stretch till the 2021 ICC World T20, scheduled to be played in India.
This will be Shastri’s fourth stint with the national team, having served briefly as the cricket manager (2007 tour of Bangladesh), team director (2014-2016) and head coach (2017-2019).
“Number three was Tom Moody, number two was Mike Hesson. Number one is Ravi Shastri as all of you were expecting… (But) It was a very close race,” said Kapil at the press conference to announce the decision.
With very vocal and open support from skipper Virat Kohli and reports of the full team backing him to continue, the incumbent coach was the runaway favourite to retain his post. Shastri was India Team Director from 2014 to 2016 and was appointed head coach after Anil Kumble stepped down after the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy. The former India all-rounder’s record after taking over as head coach in 2017 has been very impressive. One of the biggest highlights was guiding the team to its maiden Test series win on Australian soil and a 5-1 ODI series win in South Africa last year.
In 21 Tests played since July 2017, with Shastri as coach, India won 13. That’s a win percentage of 52.38. The record is better in T20Is, with 25 wins from 36 games, with a win percentage of 69.44. The ODI record takes the cake, with 43 wins in 60 games and a success rate of 71.67 percent.
Indian Team Under Ravi Shastri :
| Matches | Wins | Win Percentage | |
| Tests | 21 | 13 | 52.38 |
| ODIs | 60 | 43 | 71.67 |
| T20s | 36 | 25 | 69.44 |
The shortcomings, as pointed out by certain critics, is the fact that in the 2015 ICC ODI World Cup in Australia (when he was Team Director) and in the last edition in the UK this year, the team couldn’t go beyond the semi-finals.
But the Men in Blue’s rampant charge and complete domination of the Windies in the Caribbean islands on the ongoing tour, in both T20s and ODIs so far, indicates that the team has bounced back to winning ways and the trademark positive approach very quickly, after a heartbreaking World Cup exit earlier.
Six candidates, including Shastri, were short-listed for the high-profile post of India Head coach, before former West Indies opener Phil Simmons pulled out of the race on Friday to leave five aspirants in the race.
The five candidates were former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson, ex-Australia all-rounder and former Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody, ex-India team manager Lalchand Rajput, former India fielding coach Robin Singh and Ravi Shastri.