Dubai: It has been a mad rush for Ravi Shastri ever since he was appointed Team India coach.
He has been racing from one meeting to another and quickly interacting with players and also with captain Virat Kohli before he guides the team on Friday for the Sri Lanka series.
When Gulf News contacted Shastri, he had just completed a meeting with the BCCI committee made up of President C.K. Khanna, acting Secretary Amitabh Choudhary, Committee of Administrators (CoA) member Diana Edulji and the board’s Chief Executive Officer Rahul Johri to gain the approval for the support staff that he needed for his mission until the 2019 World Cup. As suggested by him, Bharat Arun was named as Team India’s bowling coach and R Sridhar as fielding coach. Sanjay Bangar will be team’s assistant coach.
“When I was with the team they had done an excellent job and there is no change and we all will work towards the same goal,” remarked Shastri, who proved successful during his tenure from 2014 to 2016 as not only Team India’s Director but also as the team’s coach.
When asked how he sees the path towards the 2019 World Cup now that the support staff has come in, Shastri said: “The core team remains the same and hence I hope we all can move in the right direction.”
On being given the enormous task of lifting the team again to the top, Shastri thanked the Cricket Advisory Committee of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman for appointing him. “I thank them for having the confidence in me and finding me worthy of the task. There are a lot of things to be done before the first tour.”
The media has been chasing Shastri to know more about his plans. A press meet is scheduled just before the team leave for Sri Lanka, but before that Shastri has to sit with the players.
Shastri also made it clear that Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan will work as team consultants. He revealed that he has been in conversation with him. He virtually wiped away reports that both Dravid and Zaheer were humiliated by keeping their appointment as consultants on hold.
“I have spoken to them four days back. They are great cricketers and their guidance will be very important and there are no issues about it.”
Arun and Shastri have a great working relationship. They have played together from Under-19 cricket and for India. In fact, Arun takes charge of the series against Sri Lanka against whom he made his Test debut in Kanpur, with a three-wicket spell which included the wickets of Aravinda De Silva, Roy Dias and Asoka De Silva. Shastri too played in his debut match.
Arun is the coach of the VB Thiruvallur Veerans in the Tamil Nadu Premier League and bowling coach of the Royal Challengers Bangalore team.
Shastri and his core team will thus return to action during the Sri Lanka two month long tour which comprises three Tests, five one-day matches and a T20 match.
