Has Ravi Shastri come close to what Anil Kumble achieved as an Indian coach

But with the T20 series beginning today, now the business has become as usual. Because this is Kohli’s India. The new India that doesn’t care about “reputations, tags, or headlines” or doesn’t want to bask in the afterglow of historic series victory. The India that doesn’t care about what people outside the set-up of the team management think about them. They have convinced themselves that their only job is to perform and take the flag of Indian cricket onwards and upwards. 

When a man defies logic to score a series tally of 558 runs at an insane average of 186, the highest aggregate in a bilateral series, it is only natural to be in the awe of him. And Ravi Shastri, the motivator extraordinaire first and a coach second, said people should start visiting a bookstore and pick up the Oxford dictionary to find superlatives for the Indian skipper and he couldn’t have been more right.

Kumble, as a cricketer, was meticulous and someone who believed in substance over style and above all else paid extraordinary attention to detail. He brought the same nature to his coaching manual and in the one year, that he was in charge of the Indian team, he instilled a competitive culture in the current generation to never settle for mediocrity and galvanised a young team into an aspiring team of stars. He was a born leader with extraordinary grit and was a perfect foil to Kohli’s aggressive attitude, they said. 

India’s two spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja seemed to benefit most from having the privilege of picking Kumble’s ridiculously experienced and brilliant mind. While the offie picked up 99 wickets during the 17-Test appearance under Kumble, Jadeja came into his own as well and secured 74 wickets from just 14 matches at an average of 22.54. Cheteshwar Pujara and Kohli also openly talked about how much Kumble’s advice helped them technically and Pujara’s second-coming could largely be credited to the confidence that the coach instilled in him. 

However, for reasons best known to Kohli and Kumble, the "match-made-in-heaven" went dead south towards the final stages of his stint due to an apparent disagreement between the skipper and the coach. Both were strong-willed professionals and there is no doubt that two high-achieving individuals wouldn’t have agreed on every single issue, but it was sad that Kumble’s achievements as a coach were nipped in the bud with the fiasco and the talks of the comfort of the home conditions. After Kumble’s resignation, Ravi Shastri, Indian cricket’s forever crisis man, beat Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Richard Pybus, and Lalchand Rajput for arguably the biggest role in world cricket and since taking over, it’s been honky-dory for the Indian team apart from a blip in the Test series against South Africa. 

Even when some of Kohli’s decisions were under scrutiny, Shastri seems to have failed to guide the skipper behind the scenes. Although there is no doubt about the fact that the captain leads the troops to battle on the field, the role of the coach in cricket, as Kumble suggested, is “to hold a mirror” and the first ODI in Durban was a clear example that Shastri failed to do so.

With the pitch being slower than a normal Durban pitch, India decided to play both their wrist-spinners and the part-time option in Kedar Jadhav. And it proved to be a good decision as the ball stayed low and spinners got enough purchase off the wicket and moreover, started a parsimonious spell. The entire South African top-order, albeit Faf du Plessis, failed to understand their deliveries and as a result, the team were reduced to 134/5 in 28 overs.

Indian cricket, for years, has been blessed with some finer tacticians and man managers like Wadekar, Wright, and Kirsten, with all leading India close to World beaters, but Shastri, who has been blessed with probably the finest team of them all, just needs to refine the finer points and shouldn’t make himself a one-dimensional coach. 

Although the way the Kohli-Kumble saga played out in the public eye was enough to instil fear in anyone who could even dream of going up against the powerful Indian skipper, the dressing room must be a sacrosanct place where ideas are discussed and challenged in the right spirit. Shastri doesn’t need to be going against Kohli’s whims and fancies, but, he is there to advise the team, who are years younger in cricketing experience than him. More than the blatant results, a proper moulding will be crucial in deciding Shastri’s legacy in his second-coming as the Indian backroom staff leader.