Shane Warne hints at coaching Team India in future

Former Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne has said that he is very much open to the idea of him coaching the Indian side sometime in future. Currently, Ravi Shastri is the team director for Team India and is serving the position of coach. But his tenure was up to the World T20 2016 in India and now that India has been knocked-out of the competition, he is expected to leave the position.

The Board of Control for cricket in India (BCCI) will be looking for suitable candidates in order to appoint a full-time coach for Team India. Ravi Shastri had been serving as team director cum coach after Duncan Fletcher’s contract was not renewed.

“I would love to work with the Indian team. I think they are a very talented team, wonderful team to work for. There is a lot of pressure, a billion plus people supporting the Indian team if you make a mistake you cop it. If the opportunity came about, I would think about it,” Warne told reporters

Warne had previously played in the IPL as the captain and coach of Rajasthan Royals in the first three years if the tournament and had won the trophy in the inaugural year. Currently, he says that he is not averse to the idea of coaching a national team, preferably India, if BCCI approached him with an offer.

The 46-year-old has captained Australia in a handful of ODIs, but his tendency to get into trouble on and off the field, meant that Australian selectors passed him over when Mark Taylor retired in 1998 and made Steve Waugh the captain.

Warne also gave his opinion on India’s 7 wicket loss to West Indies in the World T20 semi-finals. He said that India didn’t get the basics right and those two no-balls that gave Lendl Simmons lives came back to bite India in the long run. But he was appreciative of Indian vice-captain Virat Kohli, he said, “When you got a star player like Kohli, I think you got a blank piece of paper and you say ‘who is your first pick T20 player’ and for me it is Kohli. I would select him at No.3 that is my first selection. Second would probably be Chris Gayle for the opening position.”

He also said,”Ashwin bowled only two overs. (Ravindra) Jadeja’s tactics of bowling wide of off-stump and three points, he went for 48 runs in his four overs, I don’t think he got it quite right either.”