Former head coach Ravi Shastri had a fruitful time coaching the Indian cricket team. Under his tenure, Team India played a fearless brand of cricket and produced some high-quality cricketers who completely dominated with their presence in the side. From maintaining a tremendous record at home to scripting history in overseas, India achieved prominent success under Shastri.
Although Shastri’s term of Team India’s head coach came to an end after the disastrous T20 World Cup 2021 campaign, his love and admiration towards the talented crop of cricketers kept growing.
Speaking about some of the current cricketers, Shastri recently named three players who, according to him, are quite different from the ones seen in Indian cricket’s previous eras.
The Mumbaikar lavished praises on Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill and Jasprit Bumrah for stamping their authority in the Indian team with several match-winning performances. Bumrah and Pant have already proven their phenomenon to world cricket with their consistent acts.
While the speedster has taken the fast bowling of Indian cricket to a whole new level, Pant has been able to successfully carry the golden legacy of legendary wicketkeeper MS Dhoni. Similarly, Gill has cashed in whatever opportunities he has got in his short-yet-impressive career. Be it from opening Indian batting in the highly-talked about Border-Gavaskar Trophy to partnering Rohit Sharma in the England tour. Gill, on the other hand, has proved his credentials as the top-quality opening batter.
“They are brilliant! Pant, Shubman Gill, Bumrah – it has only been a couple of years since they made their India debut. They have the same belief as their predecessors; it’s just that the exuberance of youth and fearlessness is far greater. They come in far more experienced than the previous generations,” Shastri told The Week.
He further mentioned the impact of IPL on the rise of Indian cricket, stating the young crop gets to share the change room with the best in the business, and that help them grow their confidence.
“I have always said that the IPL has made a difference – to share a dressing room with the best in the world, play with and against them and then come into the Indian team; [it makes them] far more experienced. When I was playing, the maximum pace I had faced in domestic cricket was 74kmph. Then, [when I made it] to the Indian team, [I faced] Imran Khan and the West Indies pacers. The exposure level is vastly different,” added Shastri.
