Latest news with #Shastri
NDTV
8 hours ago
- Sport
- NDTV
"When I Saw Him...": Ravi Shastri Backs Gautam Gambhir's Pick Amid Kuldeep Yadav Chatter
Former cricketer and head coach Ravi Shastri has thrown his weight behind young Washington Sundar to be a "genuine all-rounder for many, many years for India". Sundar is slowly emerging as a familiar face across different formats of the game under the regime of head coach Gautam Gambhir. The sudden rise in Sundar's stock is attributed to Gambhir's backing of the 25-year-old over the last few months. Even former India spin wizard Ravichandran Ashwin revealed that Gambhir highly rates Sundar. With the number of opportunities that have come Sundar's way, the southpaw has latched on to every single one of them. Sundar conjured a composed 23 (76) with his robust technique in the first innings. While in the second, he weaved magic with his craft and returned with figures of 4/22 in 12.1 overs, but it wasn't enough to save India from a bitter 22-run defeat. Shastri, who saw Sundar dazzling at the crease with his multi-dimensional skills, advocated for him to grow into a genuine all-rounder in the longest format of cricket for many years to come. "I always loved Washington. When I saw him on day one, I said he's the man. And he can be a genuine all-rounder for many, many years for India," Shastri said on The ICC Review. Sundar first burst onto the Test scene during India's fabled win in 2021 against Australia at the Gabba. However, after the conclusion of the series, opportunities for Sundar dried up and remained limited in red-ball cricket. Shastri hopes Sundar gets more game time, citing his past exploits and his capability to wreak havoc on turning tracks. "He again is just 25 years of age. I think he should have played a lot more Test cricket. Can be lethal in India on tracks where the ball is turning, as New Zealand found out when they played against India. (during NZ's tour of India in 2024, where he was the joint top wicket taker, picking 16 wickets in four innings.). He out-bowled some of the senior spinners. He bowled that well, and he can bat," he added. When Sundar made his debut, India were battling with injuries. Shastri served as India's head coach during that period and turned to Sundar for the Gabba Test. He notched a fluent 62 under pressure in his very first innings and played a pivotal role in India's historic win. He topped up his batting masterclass with sizzling unbeaten knocks of 85 and 96 in subsequent series against England at home. Even after batting at No.7 or lower in 10 of his 11 Test appearances, Sundar boasts an average of 38.92, laced with four half-centuries. "He's a naturally talented batsman. He's no number 8. He can go at six very soon in the batting lineup. He's a naturally talented batsman," Shastri said. Shastri doesn't believe that Sundar's impact will be limited to the sub-continent. He expects the youngster to be an asset for India in overseas conditions, considering he scythed priceless wickets of Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Jamie Smith at Lord's. "And once he gains confidence, I think he'll get better and better because even overseas he's got the drift, he's got the pace, he's got the strength in his fingers and the fitness. You know, do both long spells and do the controlling job when needed," he added. Sundar's inclusion has added an extra layer of depth to India's batting unit, while providing an additional bowling option. It remains to be seen if India tinkers with the setup to accommodate wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav for the fourth Test in Manchester against England. India's squad for the fourth Test: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (VC & WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Kuldeep Yadav, Anshul Kamboj. England's playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith, Liam Dawson, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer.
NDTV
a day ago
- Sport
- NDTV
Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble Snubbed In Ravi Shastri's '5 Greatest Indian Cricketers'
Legendary former India cricketer and head coach Ravi Shastri has picked his list of the five greatest Indian cricketers of all time. Appearing as a guest on the Stick to Cricket podcast, Shastri was asked to name his list by hosts Michael Vaughan, Alastair Cook, David Llyod and Phil Tufnell. Shastri proceeded to leave out some stalwarts of Indian cricket from his top five, most notably legendary Indian captains Sourav Ganguly and Rohit Sharma, as well as Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble. Instead, Shastri named Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni in his list of the five greatest Indian cricketers. Shastri also labelled Sachin Tendulkar as the No. 1 among the five. "No. 1 would be Tendulkar because of the expectations and because of longevity, for having played 24 years in the game. 100 hundreds," Shastri said. "He (Tendulkar) played every pace attack of that decade. He started playing against Wasim (Akram), Waqar (Younis), and Imran (Khan). Then went on to the Aussies. Then the English attack Broady (Stuart Broad) and (James) Anderson, and South African attack (Jacques) Kallis, Shaun (Pollock), Allan Donald. He is pure, technique-wise and following-wise," Shastri reasoned. The list, as a result, leaves out the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Rohit Sharma, two captains who have led India to ICC trophies. Ganguly won the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy and led India to the final of the 2003 Cricket World Cup. On the other hand, Rohit is also a World Cup final-losing captain (2019), but led India to the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup title. Rahul Dravid - India's second-highest run-scorer in Tests and third-highest across formats - also missed out on Shastri's top five. Anil Kumble, India's highest wicket-taker in both Tests and ODIs, also did not make it to the list. Instead, World Cup-winning captains Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni featured in Shastri's list. Virat Kohli, India's second-highest run-scorer across formats and most successful Test captain, also features. Kohli, notably, shared a highly cherished period as India's Test captain during Shastri's tenure as head coach. Legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar - the first man to reach 10,000 Test runs - was included by Shastri in the top five of the greatest Indian cricketers. Gavaskar was arguably the pioneer of Indian batting and the first Indian batter to achieve legendary status. He was also part of the 1983 World Cup-winning Indian team, of which Kapil was captain.
News18
a day ago
- Sport
- News18
Shastri Comes Down Hard On Jadeja: 'If He Had Even 40% Of Stokes' Belief...'
Last Updated: India lost to England by 22 runs in the third Test at Lord's. Jadeja's unbeaten 61 and partnerships showed resilience but fell short. Shastri criticised Jadeja's cautious approach. India suffered a heartbreaking loss to England at Lord's in the third Test of the five-match series for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. Despite putting up a brave fight, India fell short by 22 runs when the ball off Mohammed Siraj's bat trickled onto the stumps. From being down at 112/8, at a time when the match seemed destined to finish inside the first session, India pushed their total to 172, showcasing the resilience of their lower order – Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj. Jadeja held up one end and formed crucial partnerships – 35 runs with Nitish Reddy, 30 with Jasprit Bumrah, and another 23 with Siraj. These efforts at one point raised hopes of an India win, which had seemed unlikely until a couple of hours prior. Jadeja remained unbeaten on 61 off 181 deliveries; however, despite his best efforts, his innings divided opinions. Jadeja carefully rotated the strike, giving the fourth and fifth balls of the over to his tail-end partners, but some, including Ravi Shastri, felt he could have attacked more. 'I thought the time was before lunch, when Nitish Reddy and Jadeja were batting. One of the two should have gone for it. Because the field was up. The ball was a little harder. Once it got soft, you knew there would be one delivery with your name written on it. At some stage, I thought they could have taken more chances, and brought that deficit down to about 40, and then play the way they did," Shastri was quoted as saying on The Overlap Podcast. Jadeja's knock drew parallels with the extraordinary innings that England captain Ben Stokes played against Australia in Headingley during the 2019 Ashes. Stokes single-handedly led England to victory, adding 101 runs with the last three wickets, switching to beast mode and smashing the Australian bowlers en route to finishing 135 not out. Jadeja is not a big striker of the ball like Stokes, but Shastri pointed out that if he had more belief in his batting, he would have been an even bigger match-winner for India. 'If Jadeja has even 40 per cent of the belief of Stokes, he will win you more matches. Because there is no doubt about his talent. It's just that he has to go and take charge. If he believes he can take charge, he can do it. He's got three triple-hundreds in First-Class cricket. It took him a long time. Three only. And it took him ages to realise that he has batting potential," added the former India head coach. view comments First Published: Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
India.com
a day ago
- Sport
- India.com
Not Dravid, Sehwag or Rohit Sharma, former India head coach reveals his top 5 Indian cricketers, they are...
Ravi Shastri made some bold choices when asked to name the five greatest Indian cricketers of all time. He had to pick from India's 93-year history in international cricket a journey that has seen some of the world's finest batters and bowlers represent the nation across all formats. Shastri named two of his teammates from the 1983 World Cup-winning squad, which included captain Kapil Dev and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar, in an interview with David Lloyd, Alastair Cook, and Michael Vaughan on the 'Stick To Cricket' podcast on the Overlap Cricket YouTube channel. Shastri reveals his top five all-time Indian cricketers Three decades after his retirement, Indian cricket has yet to replace Kapil, who is still regarded as one of the best all-round players the world has ever seen. Gavakar's batting prowess is unmatched in his opinion. In Test cricket, he became the first player in history to score 10,000 runs. To complete list, Shastri selected MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, and Sachin Tendulkar, all key members of India's 2011 World Cup-winning squad. Sachin and Kohli are the players with the most hundreds, whereas, Dhoni is the only captain to have won all three ICC white-ball trophies. Ravi Shastri names Sahin Tendulkar as the greatest player The panellist then asked Shastri to name the greatest among them, to which Shastri responded with Sachin Tendulkar. 'Definetly Gavaskar. Kapil. Sachin. Virat definitely. I am looking at the most influential players of that era. Bishan would have been there but….. MS again. Bumrah is young. He has got cricket. I am saying the guys, who have almost finished their cricket. 70's Sunil, 80's Kapil, 90's Sachin, Dhoni and Virat. 'I would say (Gavaskar) Batting. Kapil fabulous player. Entire package, number one will be Tendulkar. Because of the expectations. Because of longevity. 24 years. Hundred 100's. He played every pace attack of that decade. He started with Wasim, Waqar, Imran. Then went to the Aussies, then the English attack. Pure technique-wise,' said Shastri. Ravi Shastri cricket career stats Shastri was among India's finest all-rounders, featuring in 80 Tests and 150 ODIs. He scored 3,830 runs in Test cricket, including 11 centuries, and claimed 151 wickets with his off-spin. He was also named Player of the Series during India's iconic triumph at the 1985 World Championship of Cricket.
Time of India
a day ago
- Sport
- Time of India
Jasprit Bumrah left out! Ravi Shastri reveals India's greatest cricketers; Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar included
MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar at Lords in 2011 in London (Photo by) Former Indian head coach and legendary cricketer Ravi Shastri continues to be one of the most prominent names in the sport. The veteran recently shared his thoughts on several topics relating to the Indian cricket team and the ongoing five-Test series in England. While Shastri shared his opinions on the upcoming 4th Test at Old Trafford, he also named his top five best Indian players of all time. In a lively discussion with former cricketers and legends of the sport, including the likes of Phil Tufnell, Sir Alastair Cook, David Lloyd and Michael Vaughan, Shastri was asked to name his top five Indian cricketers. Put on the spot by this difficult question, the 63-year-old, albeit with difficulty, named his top five. Shastri immediately listed his picks: Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, Virat Kohli, and MS Dhoni as the five best Indian cricketers of all time. The veteran justified his selections, saying that he looked to each era—the '70s, '80s, '90s, and so on—to finalize his choices. '(Sunil) Gavaskar, Sachin (Tendulkar), Virat definitely. I'm looking at the most influential players of that era. MS (Dhoni) again. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 15 most beautiful women in the world Undo So these will be the five,' said Shastri. He later added Kapil Dev to complete his list. Sachin Tendulkar's first international hundred: The Farokh Engineer connection, bbq and a swing! Another interesting observation Shastri made was when he considered adding pace stalwart Jasprit Bumrah to the list. However, he quickly dismissed the idea, saying Bumrah still has more cricket left in him, and that his selections were based on players who had either retired or were nearing the end of their careers. The former head coach then went on to name the best-ever from his list of top five stars. While Alastair Cook prodded Shastri to name Sunil Gavaskar as the 'Godfather' from the list, he insisted that Gavaskar was the best in terms of batting, but not overall. 'I would put the entire package—number one would be Tendulkar because of the expectations, longevity, for having played 24 years in the game, for 100 hundreds. He played every pace attack of that decade,' said Shastri, justifying Tendulkar as his number one pick. Poll Who do you think is the best Indian cricketer of all time? Sachin Tendulkar Sunil Gavaskar MS Dhoni Kapil Dev He also praised Sachin's technique and class. As India buckles up for the penultimate Test of the five-match series, Shastri will be rooting for his fellow countrymen to pull off the win and level the series. An England win will put the series victory out of reach for the Shubman Gill-led side. The 4th Test at Old Trafford Cricket Ground commences on Wednesday, July 23. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
