Steve Waugh contradicts with Ravi Shastri's 'best Indian side' comments

Indian head coach Ravi Shastri is someone who likes to speak his mind out. Having taken over the reins from Anil Kumble last year, Shastri has tasted both some great triumphs as well as some heartbreaking losses. However, he has been quite positive throughout and also went on to claim that this current Test team is the ‘best Indian side in the last 15 years‘.

But the former Aussie skipper Steve Waugh is “not sure” if this side is better than some of the Indian sides that he had played against. Waugh further commented that Ravi Shastri should’ve kept these sort of comments to himself and had a good explanation to the same.

“Look, I have played against some great Indian sides and I am not sure that the current side is better than the ones we played against,” Waugh told ESPNCricinfo in an interview.

Could be to boost the team’s morale but should be avoided

“I am not really sure but probably not a great thing to say as it puts extra pressure on the team. Once they start losing, they will get a lot of criticism for that. Look, it’s good that Ravi Shastri believes in his side but comments like these could be kept to himself,” the 53-year-old said.

Also, Waugh claimed that it wouldn’t be easy for India to defeat Australia in Australia. Even though the Aussies haven’t pulled off great performances in recent times, he backed the home team to win. But, he noted that it would be a closely fought series.

“I am still pretty confident that we can win in Australia but it’s going to be a close series though,” he said while speaking about the Test series. “Actually, India have quite a rounded team and they will see this as a significant chance. They would have prepared for this tour for a long time. I think it is going to be really close series.”

Talking about Virat Kohli, he said, “He is a great player and he loves these big moments. He is like Tendulkar and Lara. They wait for these and that’s where they want to show their best. He will be the danger man straightaway, but they have some pretty good batsmen.”

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