© AFP
Highlights
Kolkata: Advising Indian selectors not to wield the axe after the hosts’ World T20 semi-final exit, Pakistan cricket legend Wasim Akram believes Ravi Shastri should continue as the team director. (Dravid Approached For Team India Coaching Job)
“None of the teams from the sub-continent could reach the final of the WT20. For (Indian skipper) Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his boys the setback is all the more as they were being considered hot favourites on home soil,” Akram said in an exclusive column for the Bengali tabloid Ebela. (BCCI to Take a Call on New Coach as Shastri’s Contract Ends)
“I have come across reports that Ravi Shastri’s term has ended and the authorities were mulling bringing a new coach. I think, if Shastri is willing, he should be in the hot seat.”
The former speedster said foreign coaches had worked with the Indian team earlier, but Shastri and his coaching team has shown that indigenous coaches were not inferior to the foreigners.
Pointing out that the Indian team lost eight consecutive Test matches under erstwhile coach Duncan Fletcher, Akram said Shastri has boosted the team’s morale after taking over responsibility.
“The Indians have whitewashed Australia in T20. More importantly, one can again see the Indian team being moulded into a fighting unit which is not loathe to look at the opponents eye to eye,” he said.
Praising Shastri, he said he cannot only raise the team morale, but also has vast technical knowledge.
“I don’t know what the Indian cricket administrators are thinking. But I will be surprised if Shastri is removed”.
Source: NDTV