'It's been self-belief.'
'We want to win every game; it doesn’t matter who the opposition is.'
Ahead of the World T20 semi-final against the West Indies, team director Ravi Shastri reflected on India's good showing over the last 18 months. Harish Kotian/Rediff.com reports.
Ravi Shastri has donned quite a few hats in Indian cricket, but it is in his capacity as director of the team that he's made an impact.
The Indian team is two matches away from another World title and, going by its performances in the last three matches, few would bet against it repeating the triumph in the 50-overs' World Cup at home in 2011.
Many Indian players, including Virat Kohli, have openly acknowledged the former India captain's influence on their improvement as individuals and team camaraderie.
Shastri represented India in 80 Tests and 150 ODIs from 1981 to 1992 before retiring at the age of 31 due to constant injuries. Following his cricketing career, he took up cricket commentary and did it with distinction, prompting many to call him the voice of Indian cricket for his pro-establishment views.
In between, he accepted a stop-gap responsibility as India's team manager for the 2007 tour off Bangladesh before returning to commentary.
He was first assigned the role after India's loss in England in the Test series in 2014. After head coach Duncan Fletcher's term expired at the end of the 50-overs' World Cup last year, he continued in his post, along with assistant coaches Sanjay Bangar (batting), Bharat Arun (bowling) and Ramakrishnan Sridhar (fielding). They all are contracted till the end of the ongoing World T20, after which the team is likely to revert to the original arrangement of having a head coach.
According to Shastri, the key to India's good showing over the last 18 months was the players' commitment and dedication.
"It's been self-belief. They are a good team and they have not compromised on their work ethics when it comes to putting in the hard yards needed to go the distance,” he affirmed, in Mumbai on Wednesday, ahead of India’s World T20 semi-final against the West Indies.
After being shocked by New Zealand in the opening match of the tournament in Nagpur, India bounced back to register victories over Pakistan, Bangladesh and Australia to advance to the semi-finals.
Shastri said the team did well to take the defeat against New Zealand in its stride and recover its mojo for the rest of the games.
"In this format you are bound to get a hiccup; I don't care who the opposition is. This format is too tight; it's the shortest format of the game. Things can happen very quickly, there can be upsets along the way. Deep down you have to focus on what you do best and keep hammering away at that and take it one step at a time. You cannot look too far ahead in this format."
India, World T20 champions in 2007, played a lot of T20 internationals heading into the World Cup, winning 3-0 in Australia, 2-1 at home to Sri Lanka and annexing the Asia Cup T20.
Asked whether playing so many T20 games is one of the reasons for the good showing in the World T20, Shastri replied: "At the end of the day you want to be consistent and you have got to take it one game at a time. That has been our approach in every T20 game we have played.
"We knew there was a World Cup coming up but we said let’s respect this format from the beginning and treat every game as a knock-out. We want to win every game; it doesn’t matter who the opposition is. You just play it every game."
He believes that the West Indies are an unpredictable side and India would do well not to take them lightly despite them losing to minnows Afghanistan in their last match.
"They are probably one of the most dangerous sides in this format because they have got explosive players, match-winners. We know what we are up against. But we are up and ready as well. This is not a knock-out for us; our knock-out was the last game. That was a quarter-final, this is a semi-final."
Shastri hailed Virat Kohli for his splendid match-winning innings of 82 not out from 51 balls against Australia in Mohali, saying it was one of the best knocks he had seen in the shortest format.
"It was an outstanding innings, one of the best you will ever see in T20 cricket. I don’t know how long T20 cricket will be played, but when you consider the occasion, the pressure, and the kind of shots he played … all cricketing shots, it was quite unbelievable."
The absence of Yuvraj Singh because of injury, he felt, is a blow for India, as his bowling could have been crucial in the middle overs.
In the last match, Yuvraj claimed the key wicket of Steve Smith and bowled three economical overs to help India pull back things after Australia got off to a breezy start.
"It will have an impact because he has had his moments. I thought his three overs were brilliant in the last game. That really put the brakes on the scoring and allowed us to come back into the game. After the first four overs it was a no-contest, because at one stage it looked like 200-plus, which would have been very difficult to chase on that surface. So he will be missed.
"Unfortunate. It is an injury that happened during the game. Looking to take off, he did his ankle in and I believe it is a minor tear in the ankle," he said.
With the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina failing to make an impact with the bat in the tournament, the 53-year-old called upon his batsmen to ‘step up to the plate'.
"We have played to 70 percent of our abilities in this tournament. So there is still 30 percent in areas we need to improve. So let's hope it happens tomorrow. In a semi-final you have got to get your 'A' game. You cannot rely on a couple of players. You need six to seven to step up to the plate and it's not happened really in this tournament. Let’s hope tomorrow is a start."
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