‘Jealous gang wanted me to fail,’ says former coach Ravi Shastri

Robert Key should grow a “thick skin” similar to the Dukes ball very much like I grew one to counter the “jealous” individuals, former India head coach Ravi Shastri said on how the ex-England opener ought to go out about his appointment as ECB’s ‘Director of Cricket’.

Shastri was at rudder of India’s coaching staff between 2014 to 2021, save one year in the middle when Anil Kumble was given the charge.

In an interview to UK’s ‘The Guardian’, Shastri expressed that there was a “gang of people in India” who always wanted him to fail.

Very much like Shastri, Key has likewise been an acclaimed pundit for quite a while and doesn’t have an instructing degree as he attempts to slide into a new and altogether different job.

“I didn’t have coaching badges [either]. Level one? Level two? **** that. And in a country like India, there is always jealousy or a gang of people willing you to fail. I had a thick skin, thicker than the leather of the Dukes ball you use. A real solid hide.

“And you need a bloody hide over here. Rob will develop this as he does the job, because every day you are judged. And I am glad he has a lot of captaincy experience from his time at Kent, because communication with the players is absolutely paramount,” Shastri was quoted as saying by the British newspaper.

From his own insight of working with the Indian team, Shastri feels that national teams across the cricketing fraternity work in a really comparable style.

“Rob may have more work with the domestic game but, when it comes to the national team, it is very similar. The most important thing is getting among the players and setting a tone from the outset: what you believe in, what you think of them and changing the mindset to compete and win.

“You have to be bullish and brutish in wanting to achieve that. For us, and now England, it was about setting the challenge of winning abroad, big time. I was very firm when it came to team culture: all the prima donnas and all that shit, that had to go out of the window early,” Shastri explained.

Illustrating the way of thinking and team culture is significant, as per Shastri and that is the very thing he had bored in when India beat Australia in two consecutive away series.

“…it was also outlining how we want to play: to be aggressive and ruthless, to up the fitness levels, to get a group of fast bowlers to take 20 wickets overseas. And it was about attitude, especially when playing the Aussies. I told the boys if one single expletive comes your way, give them three back: two in our language and one in theirs.”