An attempt was made to ensure I don't get the job

Former India Coach Ravi Shastri Reminisces About His Coaching Stint From Oval 2014 To UAE 2021

- K Shriniwas Rao

If you’d told me in 2014 this is where I’d be in 2021 – you might not win a World Cup but there are other things you’ll achieve, back-to-back series wins in Australia, for instance – I’d say, ‘give it to me any time’.

It was August 2014, and I was asked if I could set everything aside and be with the Indian team. Indian cricket was not in good shape again after back-to-back overseas losses between 2011 and 2014. I had just signed a fresh contract with the broadcaster (Star) when the BCCI asked me to come on board as Team Director. There was no paperwork.

I wondered if it was a mistake because I wasn’t cut out for the job.

I must thank N Srinivasan for this. It was the last day of the Oval Test in 2014 – the third day when the game got over – when he asked me to come on board. The next day, I found myself jumping into the deep end. It was destiny.

My first challenge was to identify someone who could walk the talk and I found in Virat Kohli the guy with character, game and personality. Virat was reeling from the recent tour of England because he hardly got runs.

I began watching him very closely and we started to talk a lot on various issues – batting techniques, the path forward, a lot of things. And I think, it really came to the surface in Australia (2014-15), when he finally bought into everything we discussed.