Bhubaneswar: Team India are facing ire of former cricketers, experts as well as fans for their meek surrender in the Lord’s Test. The fans have taken to the social media now demanding the ouster of head coach Ravi Shastri. They have urged the BCCI to replace him with Rahul Dravid.
A fan even termed Shastri as chamcha (flatterer) and said, “Sack ‘chamcha’ Ravi Shastri and bring Rahul Dravid as coach. Secondly, India need to play more warm-up matches or county cricket. because fitness alone can’t win you matches (a subtle hint against the Yo Yo test).”
Some fans termed the Indian head coach as a disaster. “Shastri is a mega disaster. He has to go immediately. Also Bharat Arun (bowling coach). Appoint Dravid, as batting coach and Zaheer Khan as bowling coach,” a fan posted on Twitter.
Speaking on this devastating loss of Indian team, out of favour off-spinner Harbhajan Singh said that Shastri is answerable for what happened at the Lord’s.
“The coach has to come on record, today or tomorrow he has to speak up. He is answerable to everyone. If India lose the series, then he might have to eat his words and admit that conditions do make a lot of difference,” Harbhajan was quoted by a national news channel.
- Dravid is the only captain after Kapil Dev (1986) and Ajit Wadekar (1971) to win a Test series in England, in 2007
- In England, Dravid has scored 1,376 runs in 13 Tests at an average of 68.80, including six centuries