Should Ravi Shastri be removed as the Head Coach of the Indian Cricket Team?

After India's successive Test series defeats outside the subcontinent, in South Afica and England, questions have been raised about the performance of the coaching staff, specially the head coach, Ravi Shastri.

Former cricketers like Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag have directly criticised Ravi Shastri's performance as a coach. While others like Sunil Gavaskar and Harbhajan Singh have been critics of the team selection procedure and the continuous chopping and changing of the playing XI. The team management, of which Shastri is an integral part, has been held responsible by them, for this whimsical behaviour.

Ravi Shastri's Performance as India's Head Coach:

After Anil Kumble's unceremonious exit, Ravi Shastri took over as the Head Coach of the Indian Team in July 2017. After his initial success both at home and abroad, Shastri faced his first real challenge against South Africa in South Africa. India lost the series 2-1. The main reason for the series loss, was the consistent batting collapses. The team selections also came under question. However India's inspired show to win the final Test buried the criticism for then.

But the same problems of inconsistency in team selection and batting debacles, have again resurfaced in the ongoing Test series versus England.

Shastri's inability to address the batting issues became a talking point. Due to constant chopping and changing, even the established players like Rahane (dropped in South Africa) and Pujara (dropped for the first game in England) lost their touch and confidence. It seemed as if a fear of failure had crept into the minds of all the batsmen, expect Kohli. As a result, they stopped playing their natural game.

The likes of KL Rahul, Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan were totally at sea against the swinging ball. And the coach, was neither able to solve their technical issues, nor was he able to find proper replacements.

Playing with only five proper batsmen, when most of them were out of form, also added to the woes. And Shastri seemed to be stubborn with his 5-batsmen theory, although it failed miserably.

The wrong team selections, both in South Africa and in England, have also harmed Shastri's reputation as a good match reader, a quality that is essential for being a good coach.

Shastri's whimsical decisions like picking up Kuldeep Yadav on a seaming wicket at Lord's or dropping Bhuvneshwar Kumar in South Africa despite his phenomenal show in the first Test and his inability to solve the technical issues of batsmen is having an adverse impact on the team's performance.

In addition to this, in order to defend his players and stand by them, Shastri started making tall claims about the team's quality and goals. He stated that the present team's overseas performance is the best in the last 15-20 years. After winning the third Test versus England, he also talked about the team's goal of a 3-2 series victory. After being unable to achieve that, his tall claims seem stubborn and brash - almost like that of a child who is adamant of his superiority.

Ravi Shastri's Future as Head Coach

In order to rejuvenate the Indian team and bring them back to winning ways, Ravi Shastri needs to do something new, for sure. And if he is unable to do so, in the near future, then he might be at risk of losing his job.