BackHow Ravi Shastri became Indian cricket board’s go-to man
The cricket board turns to the former Indian captain whenever it finds itself in a state of crisiswhat makes Shastri so indispensable?
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New Delhi: When in doubt, Ravi Shastri." Cliched as it sounds, it seems to be the buzzword in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) circles.
The former Indian captain has, over the years, emerged as the go-to man for the Indian board, whenever it finds itself in a state of crisis—be it vacant coaching positions, or anti-corruption probes against its own president. Likewise, every time the BCCI is unable to decide on the next Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman, Shastri’s name inevitably ends up being discussed, even if he doesn’t end up with the post.
As recently as last week, ahead of India’s short tour of Bangladesh, the BCCI appointed Shastri the “Director of the Indian Cricket Team". He was first appointed to the post in August last year following India’s disastrous showing in the Test series in England. Shastri continued as team director till the end of this year’s World Cup, where India reached the semifinals.
The poster boy of Indian cricket in the 1980s, the dashing Ravishankar Jayadritha Shastri made his Test debut in 1981, when India toured New Zealand. He began his career as a slow left-arm spinner who batted lower down the order, at No. 10. A little over a decade later, by the time he was done, Shastri had established himself as an all-rounder who opened the batting for India. Kapil Dev once described Shastri as a cricketer with 50% talent and 200% determination. He was right, for Shastri wasn’t particularly known for his natural talent or technical ability. But he made up for it with an approach that typifies Mumbai’s cricket—khadoos—or bloody-minded. He led India in a solitary Test against the West Indies in 1987-88. But his crowning moment came in 1992 against Australia, where he notched up a double-century (206) at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
A knee injury in that tour would go a long way in prematurely ending Shastri’s international career. He was never the same player, and retired four Tests later at the age of 30. The injury turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
After retiring from international cricket, Shastri extended his playing career with a return to first-class cricket. The 1993-94 Ranji Trophy proved to be a pivotal moment for Mumbai cricket. He played mentor to a young Bombay side, which went all the way, defeating Bengal in the final. For the emerging Mumbai cricketer, the likes of Paras Mhambrey, Amol Muzumdar and Jatin Paranjpe, Shastri was the approachable mentor who helped them develop.
Former Mumbai captain Shishir Hattangadi says, “Before he went out, Shastri was an important mentoring figure in the early 1990s. I believe he was one of the better captains not to have led India long enough. Shastri was always a player’s guy, who struck a good rapport with his teammates." As a captain, Hattangadi says, Shastri was “astute, aggressive, always ahead of the game and proactive".
Sameer Dighe, former India wicketkeeper and part of the 1993-94 Ranji winning team, adds, “Shastri is a phenomenal character. He was a very shrewd captain. We used to look up to him as youngsters. He always made you feel important, even when things weren’t going well for you. He was ruthless in his approach."
Immediately after the Ranji win, at a young age of 32, Shastri called time on cricket to pursue a career in commentary. He was offered his first assignment by the late Mark Mascarenhas during the Singer Cup in Sri Lanka in 1994. Even in his early days, Shastri was considered a capable, erudite commentator, who was out there and never minced his words or someone who was concerned about his reputation. He said it as he saw it.
His stint as a broadcaster, coupled with his stature as a reputed former cricketer, would change Shastri forever. Along with his mentor, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, Shastri would emerge as the familiar voice of Indian cricket. His rise as a commentator meant that in Shastri, the BCCI saw a man who could speak well for them in public.
In 2001, during India’s tour of South Africa, when match referee Mike Denness banned and fined six Indian cricketers, including Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly, for ball tampering and excessive appealing, respectively, a vocal Shastri led India’s protests. At a press conference where Denness appeared silent, Shastri asked, “If Mike Denness cannot answer questions, why is he here? We know what he looks like." If he hadn’t already, that was perhaps the moment Shastri won over the BCCI.
“When you have the stature, it is easier to win the confidence of the administration. Shastri’s appeal lies in his stature," says Hattangadi.
In 2002, as ICC’s ambush marketing clause threatened India’s star cricketers, Shastri showed signs of being anti-establishment, when he sided with a group of current and former players, who set up the now defunct Indian Cricket Players Association (ICPA). “People around him pushed him to take the role up. But I think he was smart enough to realize that to contribute to the game, you had to be closer to the BCCI than against it," says Hattangadi.
Since then, Shastri has been closely involved with the BCCI in several capacities. In 2005, he was part of the panel that appointed former Australian captain Greg Chappell as coach of the Indian team. Later that year, Shastri was also part of a “review committee", which defused the crisis between former India captain Ganguly and Chappell.
By now, Shastri was a staunch establishment man, a former cricketer who was the first port of call for any crisis the BCCI or Indian cricket found itself in. Following India’s disastrous performance in the 2007 World Cup, Shastri was summoned by the BCCI’s top bosses yet again; he was appointed team manager for the Bangladesh tour. That year, when the Indian Premier League (IPL) was being conceived by the BCCI and its former commissioner Lalit Modi, Shastri was among the first to be appointed to the Twenty20 league’s governing council.
After Kapil Dev rebelled against the BCCI and joined the now defunct Indian Cricket League (ICL), Shastri was appointed chairman of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in September 2007. Shastri’s three-year stint at the helm of the academy was anything but glorious, as his media commitments kept him from convening meetings. Hattangadi says, “There were too many things on his plate. Doing commentary takes up a lot of your time, and it was difficult for him to keep up with these commitments." In 2010, Shastri was replaced by another former captain, Anil Kumble.
In 2008, during the first season of the IPL, of which he was a governing council member along with fellow former captains Gavaskar and Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Shastri famously praised Lalit Modi on air, calling him “the Moses of the game who has shown the path to blazing success". However, Shastri came under criticism for remaining silent when allegations of corruption engulfed Modi and the IPL in 2010. Modi was eventually suspended from the BCCI that year, and was subsequently banned for life in September 2013 after the disciplinary committee found him guilty on eight counts of indiscipline and misconduct in financial and administrative matters related to the IPL. That year, Shastri was in line to succeed Modi as IPL’s interim commissioner.
Till 2008, Shastri was contracted to private broadcaster ESPN-Star Sports. However, he, along with Gavaskar, were roped in by Modi as commentators for IPL via the World Sports Group (WSG). It was reported that the BCCI paid WSG $2 million to, in turn, pay Shastri and Gavaskar for their services between 2008 and 2010. In 2010, after the BCCI reviewed all decisions taken by the previous regime under Modi, it cancelled its deal with WSG. The BCCI signed up Shastri and Gavaskar as contracted commentators for a reported annual sum of ₹ 3.6 crore each. This meant that any broadcaster airing BCCI matches, be it the IPL, or the Champions League T20, had to hire both Shastri and Gavaskar.
For the BCCI, this represented nothing short of a coup as two of its biggest voices were now ready to articulate its views in public, especially on contentious issues such as the Decision Review System (DRS), IPL and India’s role in its governance structure.
In 2011, in a public on-air spat with former England captain Nasser Hussain, Shastri said, “They (England) are jealous about the way IPL is going, jealous that India is No.1 in world cricket, jealous about the fact that India are world champions. They are jealous because of the too much money being made by BCCI. Bottom-line is that they have never been No. 1 in the world in Test cricket." Hussain had earlier commented on India’s reluctance to adopt the DRS, terming it a “disgrace". Shastri added, “England were the last to adopt the DRS and now they vouch for it. India tested it three years back and they had a problem with it in the series against Sri Lanka."
Shastri, by now, was their man.
In a recent interview to cricket website ESPNCricinfo, Shastri said, “I have been with the BCCI for 35 years. What I am today is because of the BCCI and the opportunity and platform they gave me to play the game of cricket at a very young age. During that period of time, including my broadcasting career, I might have gone through 10, 12, 13 (board) presidents. And I am my own man. And I live for cricket."
He added, “What people speculate and what the perceptions are, I have no right in stopping them from thinking or perceiving what they want. My job is to get out there and give my best for the game of cricket and, in particular, for the BCCI because they are my guardians. I don’t make any bones about that. I don’t care what the world thinks."
A leading broadcaster who did not want to be named said that Shastri was “politically savvy", and “seamlessly moved around the several camps incharge of Indian cricket". He said, “He’s been in the right camp at the right time. He was first in the (Sharad) Pawar camp, and then he switched over to the Shashank (Manohar) camp, and later, he grew close to N. Srinivasan. He enjoys a healthy equation with Jagmohan Dalmiya, a man with whom he goes back 20 years, again thanks to Mascarenhas." He shied away from the day-to-day politics of the BCCI and that helped him move around seamlessly.
Shastri’s proximity to his bosses at the BCCI became clear in 2013 when, while delivering the 5th Dilip Sardesai Memorial Lecture in Mumbai, he praised former BCCI presidents, including Srinivasan, who was facing allegations of conflict of interest and whose son-in-law was involved in the IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal. Calling Srinivasan a “genuine cricket and sports lover and a terrific administrator", Shastri had said that he too wouldn’t have resigned. “If I were the BCCI president or the captain of a team or the head of my political party, I wouldn’t have resigned. That’s not the school I was brought up in. I would take responsibility and set the house in order."
He lavished praise on former BCCI president Sharad Pawar and Modi, who was at the helm when IPL began. “Mr Sharad Pawar was instrumental in giving IPL the push it needed. It is easier said than done. He gave Lalit Modi a free hand. You got to give credit where it is due. Lalit, in his own way, was brilliant in conceptualizing the tournament in the first two years but it was Sharad Pawar who had the conviction that IPL could succeed." In the eyes of Shastri, Shashank Manohar was a “beauty" and a “no-nonsense man". He said, “With him, it was black or white, no grey."
In 2013, just after the IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal came to the fore, the BCCI recommended Shastri as part of an investigation committee. That, however, did not happen as Ajay Shirke and Sanjay Jagdale, the other members in the panel, resigned. Likewise, in April 2014, as the case reached the Supreme Court, the BCCI proposed Shastri as part of another probe panel investigating the same issue. However, his inclusion was opposed by former BCCI presidents Pawar and Manohar.
Shastri has been the everywhere man of Indian cricket and is one of India’s most powerful former cricketers. So why does the BCCI turn to him every time it finds itself in crisis? A senior BCCI official said, “He’s close to the BCCI and is one of the few cricketers who is actively involved with cricket. I think they prefer a man of experience and someone who is non-controversial. Shastri fits the bill perfectly. Every time they give him a role, he fulfils it, doesn’t shy away from responsibility. Besides, he is also a cricketer of repute."
While Shastri may be perceived as an establishment man, many believe that he is the right man to oversee Indian cricket at its current stage. He’s known to share a good rapport with the young cricketers, often playing the “older brother" in the dressing room.
Virat Kohli, India’s newly appointed Test captain, was full of praise for Shastri’s credentials as team director. In a candid interview to The Cricket Monthly, Kohli said, “He is a guy who does not shy away from responsibility. He is someone who takes the blows on the chin. He keeps moving forward." During India’s tour of Australia late last year, there were reports of a special relationship between Kohli and Shastri. Ahead of the tour, Shastri praised Kohli and said, “I see a bit of myself in him (Kohli)." Kohli said, “He’s the most amazing person to have around this team right now because it is a young unit and the kind of confidence he gives. He has authority, when he speaks people respect him. There is no talk just for the sake of it. He is sensible and (that is) something that gives you a lot of confidence and assurance. We would love to have him on board even if he is doing the same job right now."
Kohli also credited Shastri for his turnaround after a poor show in England. In Australia, Kohli scored 692 runs in four Test matches. Kohli said, “He is the one who suggested I stand in front of the crease and on off-stump. I was not convinced to begin with. I was thinking in my head that it might expose my stumps. He said ‘just trust me, do it’. I did not do it in England. But I went to Australia and I thought about it, said, why not. I am playing international cricket. I can’t be sitting in a comfort zone and let guys dominate me. It came out beautifully."
Senior cricket writer Sharda Ugra says, “The entire atmosphere and attitude within the dressing room has changed. Shastri has come in with a fresh gung-ho, ruthless approach. Before he took over, they were clueless. Results like 4-0 were forgiven and allowed. All that has changed now."
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