Strained relation with coach Shastri all speculations, confirms Sourav Ganguly
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has said that there are no strained relations between him and team India head coach Ravi Shastri. The duo had a banter back in 2016 when Shastri had applied for the head coach position but Ganguly who was in the Cricket ADvisory Committee (CAC) appointed Anil Kumble.
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has dismissed all the rumours of a rift between him and team India head coach Ravi Shastri. Shastri back in 2016 had applied for the job of the head coach of the Indian team but he had a massive fall-out with Ganguly as the latter felt that it was disrespectful to the committee as Shastri was not present for the interview and instead gave it through his laptop from Thailand.
Ganguly was then a member of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) who appointed Anil Kumble as the head coach in 2016. But Kumble resigned in 2017, following a difference of opinion with Indian captain Virat Kohli and Shastri finally got his job as a head coach. While speculations are still going on regarding a possible rift between them, Ganguly cleared it by saying that all is well between the duo.
"That's why these are called speculations. I don't have an answer to these questions. You perform and you continue, you don't, someone else takes over. That was also the case when I played," said Ganguly, dismissing the rumour of his rift with Shastri.
Ganguly has always been the admirer of Kohli and he has assured all the support that the skipper and head coach Shastri will need from the board.
"Virat is a fantastic role model as to how he conducts himself on and off the field. He (Kohli) will get all the support required to succeed. Virat, Ravi everyone will get everything required. But at the end of the day, we will demand performance," he said.
"It's not an ability issue but mind issue. They need to cross the mental barrier in big games," he concluded.
Ganguly himself has been a part of a World Cup final in 2003 and has ended up on the losing side and understands the kind of pain that Kohli and the entire Indian squad must have went through after their semifinal defeat to New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup. India have failed to win any ICC tournament post the 2013 Champions Trophy and he believes that if India show the required mental strength on a high-pressure day, they can win any ICC tournament.
