Ravi Shastri lauds Virat Kohli for his passion, says he becomes a pitbull in his whites

About a month ago at an event in Mumbai, Ravi Shastri extolled the fickle nature of sport. Speaking about India’s crushing loss to New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final, the head coach, casually dressed in peach linen shirt and camel trousers, said, “For two hours in the dressing room, there was deafening silence. And then when we left, there were about 5,000 people outside, and they were saying ‘Well done guys, never mind’, rather than the other way around. That’s the beauty of sport, it takes you up, it takes you down. You don’t want it to be sugar sugar sugar all the way.”

Ah, coach. You must know that thing about being careful what you wish for.

India are again playing New Zealand. It hasn’t been sugar sugar sugar. India swept the T20s. But they got wiped out in the 50 overs business.


Worry not. A lot of cricket lies ahead. With the money the game makes in the Asian subcontinent, Indian cricket is a city that never sleeps.

For starters, there are two Tests in New Zealand left to play, the first starting on Friday. Then South Africa travel to India for three one-dayers. Post IPL, India host England. And then comes the big one — the ICC World T20 in Australia in October. For all the achievements of the Virat Kohli generation, an ICC Trophy has eluded them.

Champion of Champions
“If there’s anything this team lacks, it’s just that [an ICC title],” said Shastri, speaking on the theme of leadership at a talk organised by the industrialist Gautam Singhania. “We have three cracks at it — the World Test Championship and the two T20 World Cups (2020 and 2021). If they do that, this team will go down as one of the greatest teams of the century. It will be compared to the West Indies of the 1980s and Australia of the turn of the century, a team that has gone everywhere and won everything and then a big one as well.”

Earlier generations knew Shastri as the Champion of Champions. The current generation perhaps knows the 57-year-old as the meme of memes. But the former India allrounder’s credentials are beyond doubt. Meme creators sometimes don’t let facts get in the way of good comedy. But Shastri, whose life mantra is “GTU — Gire to bhi taang upar”, scored hundreds against quality attacks in West Indies, Pakistan and Australia, was instrumental in the 1985 World Championship of Cricket victory and took 280 international wickets with his left-arm spin. And while Kohli is the boss, Shastri will be one of the key figures in India’s campaigns till his tenure ends late next year.


Style of a leader
Defining leadership, the former India and Mumbai captain said, “Leadership would demand you showing the path. Where you [the team] want to see yourself in 12 months. That might be a mindset change for certain individuals. You take no prisoners there. No guy can say, ‘I don’t want to do it’. This is a team management decision. You jolly well do it. When it came to fitness, there were some long faces. But when they saw the results, and Virat’s commitment to fitness, they started embracing it. So, you are going to get friction at times.”

That is why Shastri didn’t mind it when two senior players of the team had an ego clash not long ago. He didn’t name them, but everyone knew who he was referring to.

“That’s good. It brings the best out of each other,” Shastri said. “I’m watching from the outside. I’m there to nip it in the bud if sparks start flying. I want it to go on for a while. [It will be a case of] If he gets 200, I want to get 220. Who benefits? The team. But it shouldn’t get out of control and it won’t. Because you come to the thought process [and realise] you are letting the team down. One thing this sport teaches you. A captain is not a hero. He makes heroes.”

Does Virat fly off the handle in the dressing room?
“Of course, tempers fly,” Shastri said. “But over the years, he has settled in beautifully — the way he handles captaincy, the media, success and failure. I can see a great sense of maturity.”

It helps that captain and coach have a similar mindset. “We are aggressive, like to win, look in the eye of the opponent and if my vocabulary is tested, we will surely give something back. In Hindi, Punjabi, jo bhi. Agar teen diya to dus vapas de do,” Shastri said. “Virat reminds me of Imran [Khan, former Pakistan captain]. The passion he brings to the game is incredible. He’s in the face of the opponent. He will be an absolutely normal guy if he’s sitting here right now. When he puts on those whites and crosses the boundary line, he’s like a pitbull.”


Play to your strengths
Shastri’s philosophy, one that can be applied to business, is to play to your strengths rather than obsess over an opponent’s. “A lot of teams are more worried about opposition strengths,” Shastri said. “I have seen certain teams, some of our teams in the past, getting overawed. ‘Oh, his name is Michael Holding, his name is Imran Khan’. We know they are great. You have to think about what your strength is to combat them.”

For now, there are the Tests to win in New Zealand, land of the manuka nectar. While it need not be sugar sugar sugar, Indian fans will not mind some honey honey honey.