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Victoria’s coach David Saker has mounted an impassioned defence of the Sheffield Shield final, saying he would be “shattered” if CA excised the pinnacle of a domestic competition

Daniel Brettig24-Mar-2016Victoria’s coach David Saker has mounted an impassioned defence of the Sheffield Shield final, saying he would be “shattered” if Cricket Australia excised the pinnacle of a domestic competition he rates comfortably ahead of the County Championship after his years as an assistant coach with England.The Bushrangers flew into Adelaide on Thursday ahead of a meeting with South Australia that reflects the increasingly marginalised state of the Shield decider – played at Glenelg rather than Adelaide Oval, clashing with the opening round of the AFL season and broadcast only through a streaming service by CA’s website.Saker, however, argued the Shield final should be cherished as an Australian strength relative to the English game, in that a leaner domestic tournament was taken to an even higher pitch of intensity and therefore learning by staging a play-off match.”It is very important to Australian cricket,” Saker told ESPNcricinfo. “If you take away the Sheffield Shield final you’re taking importance away from the game of Sheffield Shield cricket and if you ask any of the players what they think about it and what they strive to do it is to play in a Sheffield Shield final.”It’s as close to a Test match as some of them will ever get, and the day they scrap that would be a poor day for Australian cricket in my opinion. The people making those decisions are more qualified than me, but I’ve been in the first-class system for a long time and I’d be shattered if that was the case, if we lost the Shield final.”There is a sense of ambivalence at CA about the final, summed up by the former chairman Wally Edwards at last year’s AGM: “I don’t think it plays any real part in our season. When I played Shield cricket, we didn’t have a Shield final. The Shield final, over many years, has proved itself to be a bit of a non-event, to be honest.”The chief executive James Sutherland has said the final could make way for an expanded Big Bash League schedule. Neither Sutherland, nor Edwards’ successor David Peever, will be present for this year’s final, as they will be in India for meetings around the World Twenty20 tournament.More broadly, Saker judged the Shield to be the superior competition to the County Championship, pointing to the number of dead fixtures played out over the lengthy English season. The high volume of matches has been a valuable tool for many players learning their craft, but Saker said the greater intensity of Shield contests was his preference.”I still think the Shield system is as good as you get,” he said. “It’s so competitive and that’s been shown again this year in the last three or four weeks of the competition, so tight and so hard to compete. That’s the one thing we’ve got over the English system with so many dead games in the County system. Since it’s become first and second division it has got better, but the Sheffield Shield is still the pinnacle of first-class cricket in the world.”At the end of his first season back in Victoria after a largely successful stint as mentor to England’s pace bowlers, Saker reflected on a role that has occasionally brought him into conflict with CA. Most notably, he was rebuked by the national team coach Darren Lehmann for taking issue with the handling of James Pattinson at the start of the summer, an experience that left Saker somewhat chastened. He counselled the game’s custodians against hubris.”It has had some hiccups because obviously I’ve said some things in the press that maybe I shouldn’t have said,” Saker said. “Most of the time I’m just trying to support the players in my team and what I think is best for the Victorian team. Not at any stage have I said things to downgrade the Australian team or the system. I think it’s a good system, I think they still need to tinker with some things to a degree.”What you have to be aware of no matter what organisation you’re in, you should never think your organisation does it better than someone else. I think you should always be open-minded to how others do things, and that’s not just in cricket, that’s in life and business. You’ve got to be open-minded enough to take some ideas from other teams and countries and use them, and make sure you’re not blinkered.”A source of tension in recent times has been the introduction of a strategy for CA and the states called One Team, which takes the view that all should be moving in the same direction with the same goals. While Saker agreed with the overall concept, he argued that states should still be allowed to develop their own coaching philosophies and approaches in a truly competitive environment, rather than turning the Shield into a mere greenhouse for emerging talent.”I’m all for this One Team idea, but I also think we should be trying to have our own ideas from our states, so if we want to have our own coaching philosophies or ways of going about it that should be encouraged,” Saker said. “If you have six teams coached in the same way and trying to coach the same way, I can’t see that being a good thing.”One of the beauties of the Shield system is it is usually coaches having control of the team and coming up with their own ideas of how to coach and how to train. Sometimes in my brief time so far back in Australia we’re getting taught how to coach, instead of letting the coaches coach. Of course we want to come together and share our ideas, but in the Shield system and the way we’ve produced players across all the states, they should get a free rein on how they run their system.”I’m sure they [CA] understand that, and I think we’ll eventually get to that stage, but it’s just in its infancy at the moment with One Team so I’m sure it’ll get to that.”

Jamaican pace bowler Andrew Richardson will replace the injured Ravi Rampaul in the Jamaica Tallawahs squad for the Caribbean Premier League, which starts on July 30

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jul-2013Jamaican pace bowler Andrew Richardson will replace the injured Ravi Rampaul in the Jamaica Tallawahs squad for the Caribbean Premier League, which starts on July 30.Rampaul sustained an injury during the tri-series against India and Sri Lanka last month, which forced him to miss most of the tournament and the ODIs and T20s against Pakistan.Richardson, who has played just one official T20 match for Jamaica in 2010, said he wasn’t fazed by the format. “I’m not worried about that because over the years I have been playing consistent first-class cricket both in the longer four-day version and I’ve had some very good one-day seasons,” Richardson said. “I’ve also played a lot of non-first class Twenty20 cricket in Jamaica and for Jamaica, so I know my ability and I will contribute to the Jamaica Tallawahs when the time comes for me to play.”Richardson, who made his first-class and List A debuts in the 2002-03 season, has played 67 first-class matches and has taken 189 wickets at an average of 24.06. In 33 List A games, Richardson has taken 28 wickets at an average of 40.85. In his sole T20 for Jamaica, the bowler took two wickets for 16 runs.*10.30GMT, July 31: The photo used in the article was incorrect. It has been changed.

Shiv Thakor, surprisingly omitted from England’s squad for the U19 World Cup, hit his third half-century in six innings as Leicestershire reached 334 for 8 against Hampshire at Grace Road.

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Aug-2012
ScorecardShiv Thakor, surprisingly omitted from England’s squad for the U19 World Cup in Australia, hit his third half-century in six innings as Leicestershire reached 334 for 8 on the first day of the LV= County Championship Division Two game against Hampshire at Grace Road.Thakor made a Championship-best 71 not out off 114 balls, to help Leicestershire fight back after slumping to 43 for three. They were the sort of qualities that England’s U19 side, which played Somerset’s two Overton brothers, all-rounders both, as specialist batsmen, might have valued as they crashed out of the tournament against South Africa at the quarter-final stage.Josh Cobb and Wayne White also scored half-centuries as the hosts middle-order batsmen battled hard to put a dent in Hampshire’s promotion ambitions.Hampshire captain Jimmy Adams put Leicestershire into bat on a green-looking pitch after winning the toss. With cloudy conditions as well, it looked a perfect morning for seam bowlers, and Kabir Ali quickly cashed in with a wicket in his second over, trapping Michael Thornley lbw as he tried to work the ball away through the leg side.As the ball continued to seam and swing, batting was hard work and Ned Eckersley decided on an aggressive approach, hitting three boundaries in an over off James Tomlinson before Ali struck again, having Eckersley caught at first slip. Will Jones, who had battled his way to 23, soon followed, caught behind off a fine delivery from David Balcombe that swung and lifted.That left Leicestershire wobbling at 43 for three, but resourceful batting by the middle-order slowly pulled them out of trouble. Cobb led the way with an excellent knock of 82, sharing stands of 75 with Ramnaresh Sarwan and 76 with Matt Boyce.Sarwan, who hit five fours in his 36, looked in fine form until he was undone by an inswinging delivery from Tomlinson and was out lbw.Cobb, joined by Boyce, reached his 50 off 87 balls and struck five more fours before his 139-ball innings came to end when he was bowled by Sean Ervine, and Boyce was caught at slip for 32 off the same bowler five runs later with the total on 199.But 18-year-old Thakor and all-rounder White shared a seventh-wicket stand of 109 in 27 overs to take the hosts past the 300 mark. White hit a half-century off 77 balls with eight fours and Thakor was still there at the close having struck 10 fours – four in one over off Balcombe – in another eye-catching innings.

Rumesh Ratnayake, Sri Lanka’s new interim coach, has warned that his team’s next opponents, Australia, will be dangerous since they are hurting from recent disappointments

Sa'adi Thawfeeq17-Jul-2011Rumesh Ratnayake, Sri Lanka’s new interim coach, has warned that his team’s next opponents, Australia, will be dangerous since they are hurting from recent disappointments.”Taking on Australia is a huge challenge,” Ratnayake said. “They are like a wounded tiger after losing the Ashes and the World Cup and they will be hungry. We need to be twice as hungry as they are, adopt smart options and play the kind of cricket we are recognised for.”Ratnayake, a fast bowler who played 23 Tests and 70 ODIs for Sri Lanka, will coach the team only for the home series against Australia, which includes three Tests, five one-day internationals and two Twenty20 internationals. It is a similar role to that of his successor, Australian Stuart Law, who quit as interim coach after the recently concluded tour to England to take up a full-time appointment as Bangladesh coach. Sri Lanka has not yet found a suitable replacement for Trevor Bayliss since he quit his position as head coach after the 2011 World Cup in April.One of the challenges facing Ratnayake will be to deal with the increased expectations in Sri Lanka after their successes, particularly in the one-day format, in recent years. “We have performed extremely well in the recent past to enter the finals of two successive World Cups. It is something I wouldn’t have dreamt of. The expectations are high because the team has started to win. Consistency is something we need to work on. We lacked that in England.”Another aspect Ratnayake said he would focus on is player management, and making sure players get enough rest. “Cricket has gone through the roof. Today it is played at different intensities and that’s why management of players is important. For the amount of cricket they play today the recovery period is another important area.”Ratnayake said the Sri Lanka team was going through a period of rebuilding with the main focus being the next World Cup in 2015.”Although we need to take the chance to introduce new players into the team there is also the now factor to be considered. With the schools producing players at a good rate, and the A team as well as the Development and Academy squads doing well there is plenty of back up for the national team, but it needs to be handled properly.”Part of Sri Lanka’s rebuilding will possibly include identifying a new captain who can lead them in the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Tillakaratne Dilshan, who took over as captain after Kumar Sangakkara relinquished the post after the 2011 World Cup, is 34 years old, and Ratnayake said it was important other players also started taking on the responsibility of being leaders in their own departments.”We need to have small leaderships in the team. Everybody should take on leadership roles if we are to become a winning unit.”An Australian and Asian Cricket Council qualified level 3 coach, Ratnayake was previously involved with the national team as assistant coach to Dav Whatmore for a brief period during India’s tour to Sri Lanka in 2001. He was at the time head of the Sri Lanka Pace Academy as well. It was shortly after the series that he got the job of development officer with the ACC, a post which he still holds. Sri Lanka Cricket asked the ACC to release Ratnayake from his duties for the Australia series.”What the ACC has taught me is to become a teacher,” Ratnayake said. “I’ve been teaching the coaches. After all a coach is a teacher.”Ratnayake will be meeting the players, the three assistant coaches – Marvan Atapattu, the batting coach, Champaka Ramanayake, the fast bowling coach, and Ruwan Kalpage, the fielding coach – and team officials on July 18 to discuss strategies for the Australia series.

Northamptonshire clinched fourth place in the northern group of the Friends Provident t20 as they eased to a seven-wicket win at the Emirates Durham ICG on Sunday

18-Jul-2010

ScorecardNorthamptonshire clinched fourth place in the northern group of the Friends Provident t20 as they eased to a seven-wicket win at the Emirates Durham ICG on Sunday. They booked a trip to Taunton for the quarter-finals on July 26 or 27 as they won with 13 balls to spare after Durham limped to 129 for 5 from their 20 overs.Northamptonshire had looked like winning by an even bigger margin when they were 121 for one with 5.1 overs left. But they lost Alex Wakely lbw to Steve Harmison for 35 and two balls later Rob White edged Gareth Breese to Phil Mustard.The offspinner enjoyed the rarity of delivering a wicket maiden in a Twenty20 game, but White’s 63 off 49 balls had all but delivered victory. He continued his recent good form by hitting two sixes on his way to 50 off 38 balls and also carved Harmison for two fours when the paceman gave him width outside off stump.Liam Plunkett took the first wicket when left-hander Chaminda Vaas shaped to pull and got a top edge to slip. But with 57 already on the board in the seventh over the visitors were well on their way.Albie Morkel hit Durham’s only six over mid-wicket as 13 came off their final over, bowled by Northamptonshire skipper Andrew Hall. Arriving in the 11th over, South African Morkel seemed content to push the ball around until that final over, when he also hit one of his two fours in finishing unbeaten on 35, made off 27 balls.Mark Stoneman was Durham’s top scorer with 36, but he faced 41 balls and hit only three fours before slicing to backward point in the 16th over. He was also dropped twice at deep midwicket, by Lee Daggett on eight and Rob White on 25.Durham had only 21 on the board after five overs when Stoneman survived a chance thanks to Daggett’s drop before Ben Stokes rubbed salt into Jack Brooks’ wounds by twice driving him through extra cover for four.Stokes made 24 when his weakness against spin was exposed by James Middlebrook’s first ball. It pitched outside the left-hander’s leg stump but as he shaped to play it through midwicket it turned and hurried on to bowl him.At a time when Durham needed to accelerate in mid-innings, Middlebrook conceded only six runs in his first two overs and the batsmen continued to show little sign of urgency until the final over.

Mitesh Velani spent a decade working for the English rugby union club

Matt Roller30-Aug-2024Yorkshire have appointed Mitesh Velani, who left Saracens as part of the fall-out from their salary cap scandal, as their new chief financial and operations officer.Saracens, the London-based rugby union club, were fined over £5 million and docked 35 points in 2019 after they were found guilty of breaching the English Premiership’s salary cap across three seasons.Mitesh Velani, who will join Yorkshire in a newly-created role on September 16, spent a decade working for Saracens. He was the club’s finance director from 2010 until 2017, before taking over as chief executive – initially in an interim capacity – until 2020. He was replaced as chief executive in January 2020, initially moving into a consultancy role before leaving the club soon after.Velani was mentioned repeatedly in the independent disciplinary panel’s report detailing the charges against Saracens, and was the principal witness when the club attempted – unsuccessfully – to make the case that the league’s salary cap was anti-competitive.Related

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The panel found that Velani’s witness statement had “largely been copied verbatim” from one made by his predecessor, Ed Griffiths, in a previous disciplinary case. The panel’s report said it was “regrettable” that Velani did not “make clear the extent to which his written statement simply reiterated Mr Griffiths’ earlier statement and addressed matters on which he had no first-hand knowledge”.Yorkshire mentioned Velani’s experience with Saracens in a club statement announcing his appointment, but did not address the salary cap scandal, instead saying that he had “brought transformation and innovation to the operating of the club during a decade of sustained success both on and off the field”.Velani said it was “an honour” to join Yorkshire. “I am looking forward to using everything I have learned to help support Yorkshire at this exciting time,” he said. “Working alongside the Board I am determined to help deliver success at Headingley and produce exceptional results, underpinned by robust commercial foundations and our vision to make Yorkshire Cricket a place for everyone.”Colin Graves is planning to demutualise Yorkshire•Getty Images

Velani’s appointment comes at a time when Yorkshire are in transition on and off the field. They are recruiting for a new director of cricket – with Essex’s Anthony McGrath considered the favourite for the role – and a new head coach, with Ottis Gibson stepping down at the end of the season.Colin Graves, Yorkshire chair, will ballot members in November as he seeks to demutualise the club, which would require a 75 percent vote from a minimum 50 percent turnout. “If people don’t vote for demutualisation, then unfortunately, Yorkshire’s going to fall into these financial problems time and time again,” Graves told the last week.Graves said that he has been speaking to IPL franchises and American investors about the prospect of buying stakes in the club, while Yorkshire will soon be gifted a majority stake in Northern Superchargers by the ECB. “They will not even consider investing in Yorkshire as a members’ club – that is fact,” Graves said.Yorkshire also announced on Friday that Sanjay Patel, the main architect of the Hundred, will become their interim chief executive when Stephen Vaughan leaves the role next month.Sanjay Patel is Yorkshire’s interim chief executive•Getty Images

Patel was the ECB’s chief commercial officer from 2015 and took charge of the creation of the Hundred from 2018, acting as the tournament’s managing director until the end of last summer. He has been a member of Yorkshire’s board since February, when Graves returned to the club as chair.”I am delighted to be joining Yorkshire County Cricket Club,” Patel said. “The board have been extremely open with me, sharing their learnings and challenges over the past few years, and importantly their bold and ambitious goals for the future. Together as an organisation, we will do the best we can for the members and supporters aiming to move forward in all areas.”Vaughan, who joined the club in late 2022, said that he was “very proud” of Yorkshire’s achievements during his tenure: “Yorkshire Cricket has faced some significant and well documented challenges that needed to be faced head on, and the club is now in a much better place and ready to continue its journey back to sustainability and success on and off the field.”It has been a real team effort, and I’d like to thank all of the staff that have worked tirelessly behind the scenes, often in extremely challenging circumstances for their support and dedication.”Velani and Yorkshire have been contacted by ESPNcricinfo for comment.

Having come close to taking his side over the line in Sunrisers’ last match, Samad proves that he is “worth the investment” with a last-ball six

ESPNcricinfo staff08-May-20232:13

Moody: Samad reminds me of a young Yusuf Pathan

A last-ball six to overhaul a target of 215 and keep Sunrisers Hyderabad’s play-off hopes alive could be “the turning point” in Abdul Samad’s young career, according to his ex-coach Tom Moody.Samad is only 21 but is already in his fourth IPL season, and has found himself in and out of the Sunrisers team this year. By his own admission, he “got lucky” when Sandeep Sharma’s overstep on what should have been the last ball of the game granted him a second chance, but he took full advantage in drilling the free hit back over his head for six to clinch a win for his side.Related

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Thirty-one games into his IPL career, Samad is averaging just 18.63 but has scored his runs at a strike rate of 136.67. He is also among a rare group of players who have hit more sixes (21) than fours (20) in the league – a statistic which underlines his power.”What Abdul Samad has got as a young, emerging player is a rare ability to hit the ball out of the ground,” Moody, who worked with Samad in 2021 and 2022, said on ESPNcricinfo’s show. “He reminds me of a young Yusuf Pathan. He’s got that strength, power, and it’s a very hard role to play.”I hope that it gives the management and the franchise confidence that they have got the right person, because that is the hardest part. Forget about the player having confidence, you need the organisation – wherever you are – to have confidence in you, and I think if you look at his erratic selection over the last two years, I think that hopefully this is the turning point for him.”Samad was unable to get Sunrisers over the line in their narrow defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday night, falling in the final over of the game for 21 off 18 balls. Hemang Badani, Sunrisers’ batting coach, said that Samad had taken responsibility for the defeat and “stayed strong” in the aftermath.2:31

Hemang Badani: ‘The win will give confidence to players like Samad’

“Let me start off by saying I have to give full marks to Samad,” Badani said, “because he was the first one to come up to me after the previous game and said, ‘I should have finished the game.'”He took ownership of it, and said with nine off six balls, more often than not, batters in the middle would finish games for their side, and he didn’t finish it and he was a little unhappy about it. He had a similar instance with the game against Mumbai [Indians]; that again was a game that he felt he could have finished.”And he was hurting, to be honest. He was hurting. He was like, ‘I’ve been around with SRH, this is my third [fourth] year, I’m a retained player and I really want to make it count. I really want to try and show them that I am worth your time and I am worth the investment.’ I think he’s ensured that he’s stayed strong.”Samad hardly reacted after his winning shot, which Moody said fitted his character. “He’s not charging off with his bat in the air; he’s a very humble, quietly-spoken guy,” he said.”But behind all that is someone that works extremely hard at his craft and is constantly trying to improve on his game in a role that is exceptionally hard to play. More often than not, you see your mature players playing in those roles, not a 21-year-old.”Abdul Samad’s 21, and we are judging him on his history as a 21-year-old. Let’s judge him on his history when he’s 28, and then make judgement on whether he’s consistent in one of the hardest roles to play.”Badani, meanwhile, said that Samad – and Sunrisers – would take confidence from their victory, which still leaves them in ninth place but with the points table incredibly tight.”It’s a great win, because it gives us momentum,” he said. “It will obviously give us confidence. It will obviously give a lot of belief for guys like Samad, because Samad would have felt that he missed out a couple of times.”To have done it here, the next time he comes in to bat, the next time he’s in a situation like this, he’ll be a lot more different to what he was in the past.”

Bangladesh’s ODI captain was all praise for the allrounder’s decision to stay back for the third ODI in the face of a family emergency

Mohammad Isam24-Mar-2022Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal has praised Shakib Al Hasan for showing “big heart” by staying back in South Africa and playing the third ODI despite several members of his family back home being in hospital.Shakib took the evening flight out of Johannesburg on Wednesday evening, shortly after Bangladesh clinched the ODI series 2-1 in Centurion. He is scheduled to land in Dhaka on Thursday. Four members of his family including his two children, his mother and mother-in-law are all in hospital with different ailments.”It takes a very big heart to endure what Shakib is going through,” Tamim said. “Not many people could have done it. There would be nothing wrong to want to be with one’s family in such a situation. For me his performance wasn’t important. But the dedication that he showed, it was the most important thing. I am telling you. Four or five members of his family are in the hospital. He is still playing and smiling with the team. It takes a big heart.”Shakib initially planned to miss the third ODI and fly home early after hearing about the seriousness of his family’s situation. But after his air ticket was confirmed, Shakib changed his mind and stayed back to play the decider.Shakib took two wickets and later hit the winning runs as Bangladesh won with 141 balls to spare.The allrounder is reportedly in talks with the Bangladesh team management for a possible return to South Africa in time for the second Test. The first Test of the two-match series is scheduled to run from March 31 to April 4 in Durban, and the second from April 7 to 11 in Port Elizabeth.

“This time around the competition will be good; they have brought in experienced players and you will see different cricket”

Umar Farooq29-Oct-2020Babar Azam vowed not to overcomplicate things as ODI captain, saying he would try to apply the same mindset which fetched him positive results in T20s. Pakistan start as firm favourites against Zimbabwe, and Azam said they would test their bench strength during the series, but at the same time, he asked his players not to take the opponents lightly.This is Azam’s first ODI series as captain despite being given the role over a year ago. Pakistan have not played an ODI since a three-match series against Sri Lanka in October 2019, and in that time, he has led his side in eight T20Is, with three wins and as many losses. His form as a batsman shows no sign of waning, but Azam is yet to truly stamp his mark as a captain.”I have learned a lot in the last year and it is a continuous process,” Azam said on the eve of the first ODI. “It didn’t affect my batting much because with the bat I only focus on what I am doing in the middle. But as a captain, there are a lot of things going on my mind so I try to cover every aspect as captain while enjoying the game. The ODI cricket is played with a different mindset but whatever made me successful in T20 cricket, I’ll try and replicate that to get good results.”Zimbabwe’s 20-man squad has a mix of youth and experience. While new faces like Faraz Akram, Wesley Madhevere and Milton Shumba are part of the side, there are also seven players who visited Pakistan in 2015. Pakistan, meanwhile, are playing with a full-strength squad and go into the series as firm favourites, having won each of their last six ODIs against Zimbabwe.”This time around the competition will be good; they have brought in experienced players and you will see different cricket,” Azam said. “We will try to dominate and play according to our strengths and try and get a clean sweep. You can’t take them lightly and we will try to play with a combination of seniors and juniors and give chances to players like Khushdil [Shah], Usman Qadir and Zafar Gohar. We will try to shuffle during the whole series and test our bench strength.”Whatever the team you are up against you can’t afford to take it easy,” he said. “We plan to have the same level of focus and planning. We have to give Zimbabwe respect and play at our full potential. I have given the same message to the boys in the dressing room not to be relaxed and play your natural game.”

India’s head coach talks about his vision for the team after being reappointed to the post

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Aug-20192:09

‘Ravi Shastri was the unanimous choice’ – Kapil Dev

Overseeing a “smooth transition” and integrating youngsters into the national team is among Ravi Shastri’s primary objectives as he looks ahead to the next 26 months of his coaching tenure.On Thursday, Shastri was appointed for a second successive term, with the three-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) headed by Kapil Dev deeming his international experience, track record and vision for the team superior to those of his nearest challengers Mike Hesson and Tom Moody.”The [goal] for the next two years is to see a smooth transition happening. You will get a lot of youngsters coming in, especially in the white-ball set up,” Shastri told in Antigua, where India are preparing for the two-Test series against West Indies starting August 22.ALSO READ: Why India chose to stick with Ravi Shastri“There will be youngsters coming into the Test match set-up as well. We need to identify another three-four bowlers to add to the pool, those are the challenges so that the team at the end of my tenure in 26 months is in a happier place.”The game has taught us to never back away from a challenge, you want to embrace it, that’s our mental framework. Look at it straight in the eye, go out and compete. We believe wherever we play, it is home, just go and think in that fashion.”This is Shastri’s fourth stint with the Indian team, since he first took on duties as a cricket manager in 2007, immediately in the aftermath of Greg Chappell’s resignation following a first-round exit from the World Cup.AFP

He joined India’s backroom staff as team director during the 2014 tour of England, and remained director in the absence of a head coach, when Duncan Fletcher’s tenure ended after the 2015 World Cup. Shastri was out of the set-up when Anil Kumble became head coach in June 2016, but returned as head coach after Kumble’s resignation a year later.Since then, Shastri has overseen Test match wins in South Africa and England, and a maiden Test series win in Australia, in 2017-18. Under Shastri, India most recently reached the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup in the UK, topping the round-robin table before exiting with a loss to New Zealand. Now, he wants to carry forward from there to establish a legacy for teams to emulate.”The reason why I came in here because I had the belief in this team, that they could leave a legacy that very few teams have left behind in years to come,” he said. “Not just for the moment, but also at the end of it all, the kind of legacy other teams going down decades will want to try to emulate. That is the desire, we’re on track, there’s always room for improvement, and with youth coming in through the ranks, it’s a very exciting time.”Over the last four-five years, the biggest improvement has been the fielding, and the endeavor is to make this the best fielding side in the world. It is a clear diktat to whoever wants to play for this team, the standard of that particular player will have to be of the highest standard, especially in white-ball cricket.”