Former players including Sourav Ganguly and Sunil Gavaskar are speaking out against Ravi Shastri’s comment that the current Indian team is better than any in the last 15-20 years.
Speaking in London ahead of the fifth and final Test of the ongoing seres against England that India has already lost, Shastri had said: “If you look at the last three years, we have won nine matches overseas and three series. I can’t see any other Indian team in the last 15-20 years that has had the same run in such a short time, and you have had some great players playing in those series.”
While speaking to TV Today, Ganguly laughingly dismissed his former colleague’s comments as immature, adding that no matter which generation the cricketers play in, they all play for ‘Team India’ and such comparisons should not be made.
These are immature comments. You should not pay much attention to what Ravi Shastri says. What he says and when he says things, no one knows. Whichever generation is playing for India, be it Chetan Sharma’s or when I played for India or when Dhoni played or now when Virat is playing, we are all the ‘Indian Team’. We all just represent the team at different times. It is not necessary to compare one generation or the other. I can say a lot more but it would not be correct. Virat Kohli and his players are working hard to perform for India, it would not be nice for me to say anything.Sourav Ganguly to TV Today
While Shastri focussed on this Indian team’s run under Virat Kohli’s captaincy in which they have won nine Test matches overseas in the last three years, the team has also lost the Test series against South Africa earlier this year and the ongoing five-match series against England.
In comparison, previous Indian teams have drawn Test series in Australia, South Africa and England, and also beaten England in England in 2007.
Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar, while speaking to India Today, also pointed out the flaws in Shastri’s comparison.
All I can say is that no Indian team has won in Sri Lanka for a long time. But we have won in the West Indies, in England, Test matches in Australia and South Africa. What I can say is that teams in 1980s have won in England and West Indies. Rahul Dravid also won series in West Indies in 2005, in England in 2007 and captained when India beat South Africa for the first time (in South Africa).Sunil Gavaskar
This is however not the first time, on this tour, that Ravi Shastri has drawn flak for his comments about the team to the media.
He had earlier said that “this team has the potential to be one of the best travelling teams in the world” and after India conceded the Test series to England in Southampton, former India opener Virender Sehwag had called out his ‘big talk’ on India TV:
The best travelling teams are made by performances on the ground and not by sitting in the dressing room and talking about it. You can talk big however much you want but unless the bat does the talking, and the ball does the talking, you cannot have a good travelling team.Virender Sehwag
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