"You tell me. What happened in Guwahati – from 100/1, you skip to 130/7 – this team is not that bad either. They have
this much talent at least. The players should take some responsibility too. You have played spin since you started
playing cricket," Shastri said in a teaser podcast released by Prabhat Khabar.
Also Read: Ravi Shastri explodes at India after Gautam Gambhir turns batting order into a game of musical chairs
When asked by the interviewer if he is protecting head coach Gautam Gambhir, Shastri denied it. "I’m not protecting
[him]. 100 per cent (he is responsible too). When am I saying anything otherwise? Agar yeh mere saath hota, main pehla
responsibility leta (Had this happened with me, I would have been the first one to take responsibility. But then, I
wouldn’t have spared the players either in the team meeting,” Shastri added.
India's Test fall under Gambhir
Shastri’s semi-meltdown is justified. He is India’s most successful coach, with a win percentage of 65 per cent across
formats during his tenure from 2017 to 2021. With Shastri in charge, the Indian Test team transformed into a ruthless
bunch of players who would stop at nothing to taste success. Under Shastri, India won its maiden Test series in
Australia and repeated the feat three years later. India remained the No. 1-ranked Test team for 42 months – from 2016
to 2021 – and made the final of the inaugural World Test Championship in 2021.
Dravid, who replaced Shastri, endured a slow start, losing the Test series to South Africa. However, once he picked up
pace, India went on to put on a show, beating Australia and England at home in 2023 and 2024. India even made the second
WTC final. That progress, though, seems to have come to a screeching halt under Gambhir. The only two Test series that
India have won in the last 14 months are against Bangladesh and the West Indies, accompanied by the defeat in Australia,
a draw in England not too long ago and now a hammering at the hands of South Africa.