'Please don't shift the goalposts' - Ravi Shastri on the percentage system introduced by ICC for WTC

Team India scripted a memorable victory against England in the four-match Test series by 3-1 to reach the final of the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship. However, the two-year journey was nothing less than a roller-coaster ride for the Men in Blue as they fell to the third spot from being the table-toppers in November 2020 after the International Cricket Council (ICC) decided to change the rules of the competition.

Till October 2020, India was comfortably sitting at the first position with 360 points under its belt. However, the ICC decided to change the rules as various tours got disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This meant that India had to win the Test series against both Australia and England to qualify for the finals.

Speaking about the same, India’s head coach Ravi Shastri revealed that he is unhappy with the decision taken by the cricket body and requested ICC to not shift the goalposts again. However, the veteran understands that all this was done in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic as all the teams couldn’t play their scheduled Test series.

“Please don’t shift the goalposts (On what advice he will give to the ICC for the next WTC). I’m sitting at home in November during COVID time. You have got more points than any other team in the world—360 at that time. Suddenly a week later, without playing cricket, there’s suddenly a rule that comes where they are going to go on the percentage system, where we went from no.1 to no.3 in a week. Fine, that’s because of countries not wanting teams to travel (because of COVID). All acceptable,” the former all-rounder said in a virtual press conference.

Ravi Shastri on the challenges India had to face to reach WTC final

Further in the interaction, the head coach reckoned that India was felt hard done by the sudden rule change and had to dig deep to ensure that the quality for the final of the tournament. “I want to understand the logic behind this. I have two tours left, sitting on top of the table, leading by 60-70 points. They said you have to go to Australia and beat Australia. How many teams in 100 years or last ten years have gone to Australia and beat Australia?

We were sitting on top of the table with 360 points. With the percentage system, we had to go to Australia and beat Australia. If you don’t beat Australia and beat England 4-0, you get 500 points and still don’t qualify. So we had to dig deep; we have had to go down every hole to find water. We found it, and we earned our right to be in the final of the WTC, the biggest trophy in the world, with 520 points.” concluded Ravi Shastri.