“You have to be fearless if you want to play for team. Fearless means trusting your instincts and clarity of thought. Once you have made up your mind don't be scared of 'what if'. You would rather get out testing your instincts than being in two minds,” Indian coach Ravi Shastri said in an interview. “When I took this job I knew India had brilliant individual players but often when we have toured overseas have we looked like a team? You are not here to fill in your own numbers. Be prepared for the battle out there in the middle,” he said of his coaching mantra.
When asked about criticism, especially from former players, he said if the criticism is positive, then he has no complaints, but if it is agenda driven, he would hit back. Shastri said the recent victory in Australia was more precious than winning the World Cup in 1983 and also beating Pakistan in the 1985 final of the Benson and Hedges World Championship in Melbourne.
Shastri did not have any favourite team to win World Cup. He says that there will be three or four teams that can win. It all depends on how you start. If we gain momentum early then India are very dangerous because we have got a lot of crowd support and things backing us. We have the team that can go the distance.”
On England team, he says, “this is the best England team I have seen recently. They have been focused in picking players who are good in that format and will take their chances from ball one to dictate terms to the opposition. You also have balance. We saw England last year in England and they had depth in batting and a lot of players who are multifaceted. They have five or six guys who can be called upon at any time to bowl and that is what you want.”
When asked about Virat Kohli, Shastri said, “We are similar in our mindset. We are both aggressive in our way of thinking. We are very clear in our mind about how we want to play this game as a team, which is aggressive on the field, playing with intent and take the game forward and play to win within the rules. Shastri says Kohli is the closest a player has come to Vivian Richards in the way he bats.”
