'No better person to take over after me' - Ravi Shastri backs Rahul Dravid to take Team India to great heights

As India are engaged in a mouth-watering rescheduled fifth Test against England in Birmingham, former head coach Ravi Shastri has backed the current Indian coach Rahul Dravid to succeed at the job. He stated that Dravid could take India to greater heights in his tenure.

Under Shastri’s reigns, the side transformed into one of the best touring teams in the world as India have now conquered every foreign land in Tests apart from South Africa. The culture in the dressing room was revolutionized in his regime as India started playing an aggressive brand of cricket, especially in the longest format of the game. It was the Indian pace attack that flourished immensely under him as they boasted one of the most fearsome fast bowling units in world cricket.

The 1983 World Cup winner was replaced by Rahul Dravid after a disappointing T20 World Cup in 2021. But Dravid hasn’t had the smoothest of starts as injury and captaincy concerns have marred his nascent coaching stint. Nevertheless, in a latest interview, Shastri has backed the former Indian captain, stating that he has come in from a proper system and success with the U-19 team.

“No better person to take over after me than Rahul. I got the job by mistake. I was in the commentary box and I was asked to go there and I did my bit. But Rahul is a guy who has come through the system and done the hard yards. He’s been coach of the U-19 team and then he has taken over the Indian team and I think he will enjoy it, once the team starts responding to what he says,” Shastri said to India Today.

The job for me with the team was to prove the media wrong: Ravi Shastri

The cricketer-turned-commentator also highlighted the need to have a thick skin while at the helm of the Indian team as the media is constantly on their backs. Shastri said that he was never bothered about the media during his tenure as he knew his team would receive praise when they did well and would be on the receiving end of criticism if they underperformed.

“The last thing I was worried about was media. If the boys performed, the media will react the way you want. If you don’t do well, they have a right to smash you and if you do well, you will get the accolades. Our job was very simple, what the media did not like about Indian cricket. The fact was that we were bullies at home, and we didn’t play great cricket when we were overseas. So the job for me with the team was to prove them wrong,” Shastri added.