Former head coach Ravi Shastri believes that the reason behind India’s dominance in the ICC Men’s Team Rankings is because to the appropriate mix of youth and experience.
For the unversed, the Indian cricket team surpassed team Australia to take the top spot in the ICC Test team rankings earlier this month. Team India also ranked first in the ICC T20I team rankings.
Ravi Shastri Shares The Recipe Behind India’s Dominance In Test Cricket
Meanwhile, speaking on the most recent ICC Review episode, Ravi Shastri emphasized that several players are in the prime of their careers and are gaining the necessary experience. Shastri explained what went behind India’s journey to the top of the world rankings. He said:
“It’s a tribute to their consistency, their fitness, and the way they’ve worked over the last five or six years to now be hungry and proud of wanting to belong there. It’s the quality of players. If you look at these players, a lot of these players are at their prime when you look at the Indian Test side,”
He added: “They’re experienced, they’re at that age where they’re battle-hardened, they’ve traveled around the world. They know what Test cricket is all about, they know what one-day cricket is all about, they know what T20 cricket is all about,”
Further, Shastri was asked whether rankings mattered to him or not as the coach of India. Responding to this, Shastri said that every team plays to be at the top of the rankings. He said:
“It mattered a lot to me. To be in that top two or three was extremely important and you looked at the rankings and if you knew you were four or five, then that upsets you because your team deserves to be in the top two or three, or that’s what you strive or play for. Every coach, no matter who he is, wants his team to be in that top two or three…it was my endeavour when I took over as coach of India…to bring it into that top two or three,”
The Indian cricket team will take on Australia in the final of the World Test Championship 2021. Team India recently defeated the side 2-1 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy hosted in India. The team dominated the Australian team in the first two Test matches. The third Test match in Indore was won by the Australian side, while the fourth one ended in a draw.
