Ravi Shastri on critics | When you win, they say the other team didn’t play well
Ravi Shastri launched into an expletive-filled rant in a wide-ranging interview with Mid-day, following the team’s arrival back in India after their successful tour of SA. Rather than focusing on good performances, he chose to inexplicably deflect attention onto critics and even pitch curators.
The Indian team delivered a sensational victory in the ODI series against South Africa, thrashing them 5-1. The sweep was even more impressive as that they had come off a potentially demoralizing 2-1Test loss against the hosts a week prior. The ODI series was followed by a more evenly fought victory in the T20 series, but a victory nonetheless, for the Indian team.
“We always believed we could win. Very few people saw it, but we could have won both those games. Sometimes you feel in your country, people are happy when you lose. We pulled out a calculation where we looked at sessions and we were just two sessions behind and those cost us two Test matches," Shastri explained.
"I said, take the positives out of that and go into the next Test match to win – not to draw – to win! Not many teams would have batted first on that (Johannesburg) track. It was a nasty one.”
After facing Sri Lanka in twotgull fledged series in less than five months, the South Africa series was seen as the real test for the top team in world cricket. however after winning the Test series, South Africa lost a number of first choice players due to injury and critics were out in numbers again as they questioned the legitimacy of the win against a South African team that was below strength for the ODI series.
“This is the biggest problem with our critics. When you win, the other team is not playing well. When you win in Sri Lanka, they are a weak team. When you play South Africa, they are not at their best. Remember, a team is only as good as you allow it to be. It's as simple as that," Shastri said.
"No one says the Indian team were not at their best when we lose. No Indian says that. When we lose, we lose. Ah, but when another team lose, they were not at their best. I can't fathom and I don't have an answer for that. By the way, we are not playing players, we are playing a country so I don't care what is on offer. I am playing against South Africa. Who plays for South Africa is not my problem.”
The Test series brought up a huge debate on the nature of pitches that were used, with variable bounce and constant swing, even on Day 4, being a threat. However the Indian coach refused to be drawn into a debate on the conditions and the wickets on offer and rather pointed out the fact that the team had actually countered everything that was thrown at them.
"We don't complain about pitches. We go and play and the message is very clear — when you come to my country, never question the pitches because I will say, 'take a fu****g walk.' We don't give excuses; we play on what we are offered. That's how my boys play. And it's a ground rule – no complaints, no excuses... it's the same pitch for both teams," Shastri added.
While India's dominance in the limited overs series might have taken the shine off their impressive performance in the Test series, Shastri admitted that he did have some regrets despite returning with a 8-4 record across all formats from SA.
"I'll be lying if I say there are no regrets. For me, everyday is a learning curve. When you lose, you learn too. What I liked was that the boys stood up and fought. They didn't allow their shoulders to drop. In fact, they fought harder. They reserved the biggest punch for the last. Two zip down and to throw that knockout punch on South Africa in Johannesburg was tremendous. They never recovered from that. I was like Muhammad Ali v George Foreman in 1974 and he fu****g knocked him out," the Indian coach concluded.
The tactical acumen and influence of India’s head coach may be in doubt; but one can never doubt his chest-thumping and entertainment abilities.