Ravi Shastri not pleased by BCCI’s ‘Cooling off’ period

Ravi Shastri may have returned to the commentary job that he once had prior to his role as Indian Team director. However, after losing out on the coaching job, Shastri has reprised his role as Indian commentator and also maintains some scorn for the Board after his controversial video call from Thailand.

At this point in time, Shastri has lashed out at the cooling period implement by the BCCI, stating that it does not allow the batsman to be competitive enough.

“Why would I join BCCI if there’s cooling off period?” Shastri asked Sanjay Manjrekar during an interaction which was a part of India’s 500th Test celebrations. “If I have an idea which is constructive and which I can do, I mean you are telling me to go in three years. What would anyone achieve in three years? How do you know the guy coming after me is competent enough?

“If I have done a competent job, then I should be respected for my competence. There is no harm if I get a six-year term. Then go for three-year cooling off and come back for another six years. Even Indian presidential candidate gets five years.”

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Speaking about the interest of the game as well as the selectors in the country, Shastri said, “When I played the game, three selectors were enough but the manner in which interest has grown, the combined number of people who play the game in our country is more than combined population of other cricket playing nations.

“Australia can have three selectors as they have a population of 17 million (approx). We have a population of 1.2 billion. You are asking too much from a poor guy (selector). They can cover each end of the country but still won’t be enough. I think five (selector) is in order,” Shastri said.

“If things would have been that bad, we would not have been where we are today. Yes, there were mistakes and a whack in the backside is needed. So let’s be practical if it can work or not. There can be total chaos where other countries will go ahead of us and it will take years to climb back,” he concluded.

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