Ravi Shastri decided to apply for the position of Indian team’s head coach. He was the director of the team between 2014 and 2016 during which he led India to the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2015.
Shastri had also applied for the job last year but Anil Kumble was preferred over him. It may be noted that Kumble has stepped down from the coach post after losing to Pakistan.
This came after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to not renew his one-year contract and invited fresh applications for the top post.
Kumble’s contract as the head coach of the Indian team expired after the ICC Champions Trophy and he was not interested in an extension.
Hours after resigning, the former India captain put out a statement on Twitter and wrote,”the captain had reservations with my ‘style’… In light of these ‘reservations’. I believe it is best I hand over this responsibility to whomever the CAC and BCCI deem fit.”
The situation had snowballed just prior to the ICC Champions Trophy with the BCCI issuing a press release, asking for applications for the post of head coach for the Indian men’s cricket team.
Shastri was not among the people who had applied for the post of Head Coach when the BCCI had issued the first release. That list included Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Richard Pybus and Lalchand Rajput, among others.
During Shastri’s tenure as Team Director, India won the Test series in Sri Lanka after a gap of 22 years and also outplayed South Africa 3-0 in a four-Test home series before clinching the Asia Cup.
