Ravi Shastri’s tenure as the head coach of the Indian cricket team recently came to an end with India’s campaign in the T20 World Cup 2021. Former Indian cricketer and legendary batter Rahul Dravid will now take over the job as India will take on New Zealand in the upcoming home series from November 17th.
Recently, in an interview with Arnab Goswami, Ravi Shastri opened up about his equation with the President of BCCI, Sourav Ganguly, and also talked about the controversial rift between the two.
Calling Ganguly his buddy, Ravi Shastri rubbished the rumors of a rift with Sourav Ganguly and said that both share an equal amount of mutual respect for each other. He said:
“He (Sourav Ganguly) is my buddy. That is again nice Bhelpuri and Masala for the media. I have said that time and time again. Yes, he has his views. At times, there might be a clash. But listen I have known Sourav from a very young age.”
For the unversed, back in 2016, former Indian spinner Anil Kumble pipped Ravi Shastri to become India’s head coach. Following Anil Kumble’s appointment, Shastri accused the then Cricket Advisory Committee member Sourav Ganguly of being “disrespectful” for remaining absent during the interview.
The Cricket Advisory Committee comprised of players including Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, and Sourav Ganguly. However, Ravi Shastri’s turn came, Sourav Ganguly wasn’t present. This irked Shastri as he felt that the actions of Ganguly were ‘disrespectful’ back then. But hitting back on Shastri, Ganguly had said that the southpaw should have been physically present in the interview instead of speaking through a zoom call.
Shastri and Ganguly haven’t had the best working relationship but they have remained cordial with each other over the years.
Revealing details about the rift that took place in 2016, Shastri said: “The reason I said it was because there was a meeting in Calcutta and I was on a Zoom call from outside. And the committee was Tendulkar, Laxman and Ganguly. So when my interview came up, Ganguly was missing. He was not in that interview. That’s the reason why I thought it was disrespectful and I have every right to say it,”
He added: “I am a guy who can let things go very easily. I am not the kind of guy who keeps anything inside and waits for the day when I can jump on that person or something,”
Furthermore, Ravi Shastri also talked about India’s performance in the T20 World Cup 2021. He said: “But let me tell you something, that is silverware. We have enough silverware. If I have too much of it, it’s a problem polishing it after a few years when I get a little older. But for me, steel is more important and what we have done with this team is (to) infuse steel. You can ask anyone around the world, actually which is the best team. They will say it is the Indian cricket team across formats,”
