After being re-appointed as Team India’s head coach, Ravi Shastri opened up about the World Cup 2019 debacle. He termed the semi-final loss to New Zealand as the biggest disappointment of his coaching stint in the last two years.
India had entered the World Cup as favorites and dominated at the start of the large-scale event. After having topped the group-stage table post one loss to England, the team crashed out of the tournament after the semi-final defeat. The top-order fell like a pack of cards to the New Zealand pacers, who sent Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and KL Rahul back to the pavilion for 1 each.
In spite of an excellent knock by Ravindra Jadeja and decent innings by Dhoni, Team India failed to chase a 240-run target in the rain-affected semi-final in Manchester.
In an interview with The Times of India, Ravi Shastri said that 30 minutes of poor cricket finished it all.
“I’ll say the World Cup semifinal [biggest disappointment]. Those 30 minutes changed everything. We were right there and then it all slipped away. We played some very good cricket through the tournament. We won more matches than any other team, topped the table and that spoke of our dominance. But then, that’s sport. One bad day, one bad session and it wasn’t ours to go any further,” Ravi Shastri told the leading daily.
Despite the World Cup failure, Ravi Shastri was re-appointed as the head coach last week by the Kapil Dev-led Cricket Advisory Committee.
He will stay with the team till the T20 World Cup in 2021.
Shastri said that the focus would now primarily be on the World Test Championship as well as the 2 T20 World Cups.
“There are two ICC T20 tournaments over the next two years, in 2020 and 2021. The Test championship cycle has begun, so that becomes top priority.”
“We have a splendid Test side that’s stayed at the top of the rankings and needs to keep up that good work. In T20Is, we need to take a fresh perspective and consolidate on the fabulous talent we have,” he added.
