Ravi Shastri, part of the 1983 World Cup-winning team and a former head coach of the Indian men’s cricket team, is not ruling out coaching an Indian Premier League (IPL) team.
Shastri’s motivation is the chance of working with youngsters rather than for the money but added that the he is in no hurry to take the plunge.
He said that working with Indian youngsters is something that excites him but wanting to take a break from the dressing room is what kept him away after stepping down from the top job for the national team.
When asked by Ravichandran Ashwin on his YouTube chat show if he wanted to, coach an IPL side after 2021, Shastri said: “Not really. Not after doing India for 7 years. You never know what can come up in the future and how involved you are going to get.”
“You know, there is no doubting the experience you have and what you can bring to the table, but after 7 years with the Indian team, especially those times — you were there — the toughest time that game has seen since the World War II — during Covid, quarantine and the bubbles, you just wanted ta break from the dugout, the dressing room and everything. The broadcasting and the mic gave me the freedom to express myself again. And have some fun,” Shastri added.
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Shastri, who was the Team India head coach from 2017 to 2021, said mentoring youngsters was a highlight from his tenure.
“You don’t rule that out. Once you have been involved with the game and played the game and you wanted to contribute to the youth, then that will always linger in your mind. It’s not just the money part of it, but also the contributing factor. How you can get into the heads of the young kids and pass on the knowledge you have before you forget it yourself?
“If I ever go there, it will be precisely for that reason. Not to see the superstars carrying on the way they are, but to cultivate, identify and groom talent, and take them through the roof.”
“I will enjoy it because the spread is so much these days, they have complexes, they have language barriers and challenges culturally. And then get them together to play fearless cricket and ruthless cricket is my cup of tea. So never discount that, it would always be the case when you are handling youngsters,” he added.
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