Ravi Shastri book launch: Ravi Shastri vindicates book launch; says “whole country is open”

Ravi Shastri vindicates book launch: The Indian head coach was remains unperturbed by the unnecessary blame coming his way.

India head coach Ravi Shastri believes that the recently concluded English summer has been the “best” in a long time and that no team comes close to the current Indian cricket team which has played exceptionally well in the COVID-19 era.

Starting with England playing a fascinating two-match Test series against New Zealand, this English summer witnessed the inaugural ICC World Test Championship final, England hosting Sri Lanka and Pakistan for white-ball series before playing a riveting Test series against India.

“It’s been the best summer of cricket England has seen in a long time, certainly from an Indian cricket team. It’s Covid times, awesome summer though. The boys were fantastic on either side of the Thames,” Shastri was quoted as saying by Mid-Day.

ALSO READ: James Anderson pens heartfelt note about wanting to play for England at Old Trafford

“No team played in Covid times like this Indian team did in Australia and England. Just ask the experts here. Nothing has given me more job satisfaction in the game and I have been around for a bit as you would know.”

Ravi Shastri vindicates book launch

Shastri, who usually finds himself being criticized for trivial reasons especially across social media platforms, sounded unperturbed when asked about being blamed after testing positive for COVID-19 post organizing a book launch in London.

It is worth mentioning that Shastri’s book ‘Star Gazing: The Players in My Life’ had been launched on September 1, a few days before he was diagnosed with COVID. In addition to Shastri, India bowling coach Bharat Arun, fielding coach R Sridhar and assistant physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar had also tested positive.

After Parmar’s positive result, the situation started to become haywire as a potential COVID-19 scare hit the Indian contingent. While no other member tested positive, it resulted in the cancellation of the fifth Test between England and India in Manchester.

A mere four-day gap between the Day 5 of fifth Test and the first match of Indian Premier League 2021 further made it impossible for ECB (England Cricket Board) and BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) to postpone the match.

A primary reason why Shastri wasn’t at fault with respect to organizing a book launch was that teams were no longer staying in a bio-bubble and that the country wasn’t following any COVID restrictions. “The whole country [United Kingdom] is open. Anything could have happened from Test One,” Shastri said regarding not flouting any protocol.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

Read More