Former India head coach Ravi Shastri hailed PM Narendra Modi for visiting the Team India dressing room after India’s loss in the World Cup 2023 final.
The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, was in attendance at the Narendra Modi stadium last Sunday when India lost the World Cup 2023 final to Australia by 6 wickets. Sometime after the match, Modi gave a visit to the dressing room to give some encouraging words to the players and support staff and raise their morale.
I think it’s an outstanding thing by PM Modi: Ravi Shastri
While opposition parties and some fans criticized Modi for this, many players, including Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami, and now former head coach Ravi Shastri, have praised Modi for this.
Ravi Shastri applauded PM Modi for paying a visit to the players and coaches. Shastri said it was “outstanding” and “something massive” from the Prime Minister and credited Modi for uplifting the mood of the dressing room.
“I think it’s an outstanding thing simply because I know what a dressing room feels like and I have been in that dressing room for more than seven years as a coach of India apart from many years as a cricketer. It is a gut-wrenching feeling and when you are down then you seem that you are out,” Ravi Shastri was quoted as saying by India Today.
“When you get someone like the Prime Minister of the country coming and visiting the dressing room, it is something massive because it can lift the spirits of the players. This is no ordinary man walking in. When you have Prime Minister of a country walking into the dressing room is special. I know what the players would have felt like I know what I would have felt like you know if I was a coach of India.”
India fast bowler Mohammed Shami hugged PM Modi in the dressing room as the latter consoled the pacer. Upon returning to his hometown, Shami said Modi’s words rebuilt confidence in the team.
“It was very important. At that time, we had lost the match. In such a situation, when the Prime Minister encourages you, it is a different moment. When your morale is down, then if your PM is with you then your confidence builds up,” Shami was quoted as saying by ANI.
