Former India cricket coach Ravi Shastri reiterated that his ‘job is to state facts without agenda’, while responding to Ravichandran Ashwin’s remark that the former’s comment on Kuldeep Yadav during the Australia tour left him “completely crushed”.
In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Ashwin was asked how he felt when then-coach Shastri hailed Kuldeep Yadav as "India's No 1 overseas spinner" after the younger bowler had taken a five-for in the 2019 Sydney Test against Australia.
"I hold Ravi bhai in high esteem. We all do. And I understand we all can say things and then retract them. In that moment, though, I felt crushed. Absolutely crushed," Ashwin had said.
Responding to the comment, Shastri told The Indian Express that he was “glad” he made the statement. “If my statement on Kuldeep (Yadav) hurt Ashwin, I am glad I made that statement. It made him do something different.”
"Ashwin did not play the Test in Sydney and Kuldeep played and took fifer and bowled brilliantly. It was only fair I give that young kid who was probably playing his first or second Test match overseas and he bowled magnificently in that Test match. He bowled as well as any spinner has bowled in that Test match,” Shastri said.
"So, I said the way he has bowled here is every chance he could be India's number one bowler overseas. Now, if that hurt some other player, I would say good.
Shastri, who stepped down as the head coach after the T20I World Cup, said that the way Ashwin bowled in 2018-19 and the way he bowled in the 2020-21 series were like “chalk and cheese”.
"I am the kind of coach who will want a player go inside and say that 'I am going to show this coach'. You know, 'I'm going to teach him a lesson and show him what I'm all about'. So, if it upset him, I'm very happy. It made him do something very different which he did.
"The way he was bowling in 2019 and the he bowled in 2021 in Australia was chalk and cheese. I would go for the cheese any day," Shastri said.