'It is a disappointment, not regret' - Ravi Shastri on not winning an ICC Trophy in his tenure as head coach

Ravi Shastri has had a wonderful tenure as the head coach of the Indian national men’s cricket team. However, one thing which people can hold against him is that his time didn’t yield an ICC trophy. Since taking over as the reins in 2017, Shastri had led India during ICC events of all three formats. 

India lost the World Cup 2019 semi-final to New Zealand after securing the position of table-toppers in the league phase. They further topped the World Test Championship 2019-21 cycle but lost the final of that tournament to New Zealand earlier this year. Shastri’s tenure ended with an early exit at the T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE. 

However, the former all-rounder says that he has no regrets. During an interview with India Today’s Rajdeep Sardesai, Shastri talked about his time with the Indian team. He highlighted the two-Test series wins in Australia (in 2018-19 and 2020-21), which were the first two times India succeeded in winning a Test series Down Under in its history. 

We could have won if not one, then maybe two tournaments but such things happen: Ravi Shastri

“No regrets, when you’ve had a journey over five years the way I have had and the team has had and when they have been overachievers. The highs, it has to be Australia, just cannot take that away. Back-to-back wins in Australia after almost 70 years is something that was unimaginable. Makes it extremely special. And of course, leading the series in England,” Ravi Shastri said. India currently leads the Test series in England 2-1 and will have a chance to seal the series when they play the fifth Test in the summer of 2022. 

Despite having tremendous success in bilateral series across formats all around the globe, India struggled to win an ICC trophy. “It is a disappointment, not regret. We could have won if not one, then maybe two tournaments but such things happen. In white-ball cricket, things change very quickly. If you don’t start well you could be behind very quickly like it happened in this World Cup,” Shastri said. 

Shastri signed off saying that for me steel is important and what the team under him has done is to infuse steel. He also said if anyone goes around the world cricket and asks which is the best team, India will be one of the top teams in the discussion. In terms of win percentage, Shastri’s record as a coach is second to none in Indian cricket’s history.