India

Shastri is the boss

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There have been some major revelations about Ravi Shastri this summer. Apparently, he can be interesting and insightful and also possesses a sense of humour. Who knew?

We learned this while watching Sky’s oddly watchable Test discussion programme, The Verdict, on which he has been a regular guest. Before that, all we’d really known of him as a broadcaster was that he was a relentless purveyor of booming cliché. In fact, he is so well-known for it that for a time there was a bot on Twitter which would reply to your cricket-themed tweets with lines of Shastri commentary.

It was painfully accurate, including gems such as: “Just what the doctor ordered”, “He’s given it the full Monty” and of course, “That went like a tracer bullet”.

But having finished on The Verdict, Shastri’s now taken on a new role. He’s been named India’s ‘director of cricket’ – surely a somewhat threatening job title for Duncan Fletcher, who remains as coach.

Fletcher might notice a few more Indians about the place. Trevor Penney, the fielding coach, has been ‘given a break’ according to the BCCI’s press release and R Sridhar will take up that role. Bowling coach, Joe Dawes, is also being given a bit of time off and Sanjay Bangar and B Arun take up positions as assistant coaches.

Will Shastri help India recover? Dunno, but they can’t do much worse and at least the standard of Indian commentary has been improved by this decision.

DON'T BE LIKE GATT!

Mike Gatting wasn't receiving the King Cricket email when he dropped that ludicrously easy chance against India in 1993.

Coincidence?

Why risk it when it's so easy to sign up?

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24 comments

    1. Absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, although it does remind us of accidentally pressing the wrong button on a late 20th Century Playstation game.

    4. I own a Wii U, which doesn’t have a single cricket game on it. So, er, there. I think.

  4. Shastri mentioned in the post-match analysis that India should include quality overseas fast bowlers in the Indian domestic first class (Ranji) setup.

    Having seen that he has the ear of the boss, I hope that advice is taken up immediately by the Indian establishment.

    Regarding the other way round, I.e. Indians in English county I am not sure if recent stringent Visa rules will make it feasible. Probably A tours to England might help

    1. Plenty of room in the county set up for Indian cricketers to play marees – requests for Indian players to come as county overseas players (Visa lite rules apply in that circumstance) are consistently refused by BCCI.

      Almost every county has tried and been refused by the BCCI in the last few years.

    2. Even just a handful of matches, a la Kumar Sangakkara this year, would help enormously. This and A-tours would seem viable.

    3. Funny, it’s never seen as necessary for English players to spend their off-season in the subcontinent to get used to the conditions and pitches. They’re all too eager to spend the winter in Perth, but not Mumbai or Galle.

    4. Indeed, KC.

      That would do their confidence a world of good.

      Then maybe the test matches would go right down to the wire…

      …are there tablets I can take to stop me from sounding off like Shastri?

    5. Ged, unfortunately there’s no one treatment. I am afraid you’re too far down the road for that to work. You might have to……

      mi…might…have to……

      do the full Monty.

    6. Actually I have discovered a surefire treatment, but it is only available in the north of England, around Accrington way.

      The cure needs to be deployed under the strict supervision of a paramedic. I’m setting off right now to commence the course of treatment.

      Start the car.

      Nurse!!!

    8. I think India are better off making calls on which player is better suited for Test cricket and giving them exposure to County cricket instead of leaving it to Individuals to make the decision.

      For example I would be OK with Virat Kohli failing in English conditions in Tests, if he can remain a match winner in limited overs arena. But I dont think Kohli would be happy with that. He may want to improve at test cricket at the expense of not playing his natural attacking game.

      On the Visa issue, I looked-up the eligibility for the Tier-5 temporary sporting Visa and it mentions a vague condition –

      “You need to make a significant contribution to your sport at the highest level in the UK to be eligible for this visa.”

      Does it mean a fresh player like Unmukt Chand is not eligible to play as overseas player in the counties or lower divisions?

    1. No bar? But, cricket… no bar? I’m not sure I’m understanding this. Cricket, no bar? Do they mean just one bar, or one that only opens when the match starts?

      Ooh, I know. They must be talking about just selling cans and bottles instead of draught beer. Yes, that must be it.

    2. Absolutely ridiculous. The MCC would never get its knickers in a twist over such matters…

      …ummmm…..

    1. If only there were some sort of on-line cricket-based top trumps game that we could play…

      …on this very site even…

      …KC should make a note of that idea.

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