With the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shanta Rangaswamy making Ravi Shastri the coach of the Indian Cricket team till September 2021 he will have his task cut out in helping the Indian team win the T20 World Cup and the World Test Championship.
Tests and T20s are the key
India having got knocked out of the odi World Cup in the semi-final stage would want to make amends in the other two formats. Ravi Shastri along with the Indian captain Virat Kohli will want to win every test series, home or away, starting from the first test against West Indies on August 22 as this series is the start of the World test championship for them. While the Ashes is underway in England with Australia leading the series 1-0 after the first two matches, Sri Lanka hosting New Zealand have won the first test.
Challenges ahead of the team
Ravi Shastri will have two fold challenges. First to figure out the best T20 side going into the World Cup at Australia same time next year. India is yet to win a T20 World Cup since the inaugural edition in 2007. Ravi Shastri will need to build a T20 side which is similar to the 2007 T20 World Cup team. A bunch of fearless hard hitting batsman combined with specialist T20 bowlers should be a given. With the biggest league in the World in the IPL, India have yet to find a winning combination for the big event.
Allrounders are the need of the hour
In a format like T20 allrounders would be the key with lower order hitting being a must. With players like Krunal Pandya and Washington Sundar being tried in the recent series against West Indies the team management realizes the importance of multi dimensional players ahead of the World Cup. The IPL next year might give more options going forward.
Fight for the inaugural World Test Championship trophy
Captain Virat Kohli who is yet to lead a T20 World cup will have his sights set on the World test Championship as well. It would be a double whammy if he manages to pull of both the trophies in the next two years. Virat has got the coach he wanted in Ravi Shastri. Inspite of extraordinary performances with the bat under Shastri, the results as a captain have yet to come. Losses in test series in South Africa and England followed by the the recent setback in the World Cup have not helped matters. The only silver lining is the away series win against Australia tfor the first time ever this year. Going forward, India will host South Africa followed by challenging away tours to Australia and New Zealand and a home series against England.
Time to deliver
There will be no excuses for the coach and captain. With such a packed schedule and big trophies up for grabs, Virat and Shastri will want to hit the ground running. Last but not the least they will also have to take the toughest decision on the future of the former captain and wicket keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Sports Korner 