Ravi Shastri hits the bulls eye with his new coaching technique

After taking over the proceedings from Anil Kumble as the new head coach of the Indian cricket team, Ravi Shastri has started his second spell with a bang. Team India thrashed hosts Sri Lanka in their own backyard to go one up in the ongoing Test series. But the 55-year-old has brought in some changes in the team’s preparation style which have started giving results from the very beginning.

The changes:

A significant change in attitude that we can notice under Shastri is that how the team’s batters are always ready to bat in the middle. The batting order has not been shuffled but he has introduced a new type of warm up before going down to the middle.

We got the first hint of Shastri’s new method when Shikhar Dhawan and Abhinav Mukund reached the ground before the rest of team ahead of the first Test at Galle. They were asked to start hitting balls in the net to prepare themselves up in case India gets to bat first. Dhawan and Mukund were the openers for India in the first Test.

Cheteshwar Pujara was done with his warm up by the time the openers stepped onto the pitch which allowed Virat Kohli to take the guard in the nets. This was a new approach introduced by Shastri and the team has accepted it with open arms.

Shastri has taken this step because he believes this will allow the team to play as the number one team on the field maintaining their dominance.

India grabbed the number 1 position in the ICC Test rankings after an incredible Test season which featured crushing victories over West Indies, New Zealand, England, Bangladesh and Australia.

Shastri has also asked the players to ‘enjoy the game’ before anything else. Shastri has underlined this as the top priority and is the second notable change he has brought into the squad preparations. According to reports, Shastri asked the players to recall why they took up the game of cricket seriously and advised them to ‘exhibit this passion on the field’.

If we take a closer look, Anil Kumble’s coaching style was a bit more methodical. But Shastri has given the players a bit more freedom yet maintaining a strong grip and control over the proceedings in the dressing room.