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Ravi Shastri never held himself back as a player when it came to giving it back to the opposition and believes in keeping the foot on the neck when the opponent is on the mat. That’s what Shastri instilled in the Indian team when he was at the helm as head coach during India’s historic back-to-back triumphs in Australia.
India defeated the Aussies in their own backyard for the first time in a Test series during their 2018-19 tour Down Under and repeated the feat in 2020-21 to maintain their firm grip on the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT).
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The BGT holders are now hoping to complete a hat-trick of Test series triumphs in Australia under their new head coach Gautam Gambhir, and Shastri believes they will have to fall back on the same “philosophy” that the team followed on their last two successful tours.
“When I was playing, my philosophy was to give it back as good as you get. And it’s exactly what I would tell my players when I was coaching India in Australia. Do not hold back one bit,” Shastri wrote in his column for CODE sports.
“Do not take even one backward step. It then became the team’s philosophy and everyone from Virat Kohli to Rishabh Pant and every member of the squad was prepared to give it back to the Aussies.”
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India started the ongoing Australia tour on a victorious note, beating the hosts by 295 runs in the opening Test at Perth. But Pat Cummins & Co came storming back to level the five-match series at 1-1 with a 10-wicket win in the pink-ball Test at Adelaide.
The teams will now head to Brisbane for another intriguing battle in the third Test, which begins December 14.
Shastri’s comments were also in response to the controversy involving Mohammed Siraj and Travis Head, after the Indian pacer gave a fiery send-off to the Australian, who played a decisive knock of 140 off 141 balls in Adelaide.
“If anything, I wouldn’t have expected anything else from a fast bowler after he’d been hit for a six. Siraj was letting off some steam. That’s the fast bowler’s temperament. You want it to be like that,” said Shastri.
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