Emotional Ravi Shastri welcomes Rahul Dravid, pays tribute to Bharat Arun, Sridhar

The
T20
World
Cup
2021
game
against
Namibia
was
Shastri’s
last
day
in
the
office
as
the
head
coach.

“There
is
one
thing
missing,
that
is
(winning
the)
ICC
tournament.
They
will
get
a
chance
and
Rahul
Dravid
has
come
as
a
coach,
I
wish
him
all
the
luck.

“He
is
a
great
player,
got
the
stature,
he
has
done
the
yards
as
a
coach,
to
further
take
this
team
over
the
next
few
years
and
raise
the
bar,”
Shastri
said
at
the
virtual
post-match
media
interaction.

Shastri
achieved
back
to
back
Test
series
wins
in
Australia
in
his
tenure
but
an
ICC
trophy
eluded
him
and
skipper
Virat
Kohli.

Shastri
also
heaped
praise
on
outgoing
bowling
coach
Bharat
Arun
and
fielding
coach
R
Sridhar,
whose
tenures
too
ended
with
the
team’s
World
Cup
campaign.

“See,
I
call
him
(Arun)
the
guru
of
that
(bowling)
department…
him
and
Sridhar
have
done
an
outstanding
job,
but
I’ll
come
first
to
Bharat
Arun.
He
has
been
in
the
coaching
space
for
almost
20
years
now,
if
not
more.

“And
not
only
that
he
has
coached
a
lot
of
coaches,
he
has
conducted
a
lot
of
courses,
he
has
certified
a
lot
of
coaches
and
then
come
to
do
this
job
and
that’s
the
prime
reason
I
picked
them…

“…because
I
wanted
to
pick
people
from
my
stable,
which
is
the
NCA
and
I
happen
to
be
the
chairman
there
for
sometime
when
the
system
was
put
in
place.

“That
is
the
time
guys
like
Sridhar
and
Arun
came
into
the
fold,
with
Dav
Whatmore
there,”
Shastri
said.

Shastri
said
Arun’s
biggest
plus
point
was
his
communication.
“He
will
not
change
anyone’s
technique
for
the
sake
of
it,
unless
he
has
the
solution
or
unless
he
explains
to
the
guy
(player)
why
he
has
to
do
it,
for
the
sake
of
doing
it,
he
won’t.

“He
instilled
professionalism
in
the
unit
by
his
communication
skills,
to
let
them
know
that
this
is
what
we
expect
from
a
bowling
team
not
a
bowling
individual,
that
is
not
easy,
that
is
something
specific
that
he
did,
he
ensured
that
happened.”

Under
Sridhar’s
guidance,
Shastri
felt
the
team
became
one
of
the
best
fielding
units
in
the
world.
“And
then
I’ll
go
to
Sridhar,
who
I
think
is
one
of
the
best
coaches
in
the
world
(and)
he
is
outstanding.

“All
I
had
to
tell
him
was
I
want
this
to
be
one
of
the
best
Indian
fielding
sides
ever,
that
was
my
diktat
to
him
and
said
in
every
match,
I
want
to
see
the
bar
raised….

“….there
was
no
messing
around,
it
had
to
be
done
and
similarly
with
Arun
as
far
as
professionalism
came
to
bowling
as
a
unit,
it
took
time,
but
it
happened
and
hence
the
results,”
added
Shastri.

Virat
Kohli’s
tenure
as
T20I
captain
too
ended
with
the
match
against
Namibia
as
Rohit
Sharma
is
primed
to
take
over.