“Like teams going to the West Indies and beating them in the 1980s”- Ravi Shastri on magnitude of India’s 2019 & 2021 Test series wins in Australia

Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri has compared India’s 2019 and 2021 Test series wins in Australia to Test victories against the potent West Indies team while playing in the Caribbean. India won their maiden Test series on Australian soil under the leadership of Virat Kohli on the 2018-19 tour when Ravi Shastri was the team’s coach.

Once again under Shastri’s tutelage, Ajinkya Rahane guided the team to a historic win 2-1 win despite the absence of key players like Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma.

India has been magnificent on the last two tours of Australia and they will look to replicate the same show against the Pat Cummins-led team.

Meanwhile, West Indies dominated the cricket world during the 1980s and they were always a force to reckon with as they had a solid pace battery in the form of Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, and Andy Roberts.

Ravi Shastri said on Mid-Day, “People talk about World Cups, but if you go and ask people who follow the game all around the world, they will always think of those [2018-19 and 2020-21] series in Australia. How many teams have gone to Australia and beaten them [in a series]? It’s just like teams going to the West Indies and beating them in the 1980s. I don’t think any team did that.”

“When you go there and win back-to-back series, you capture the imagination of people. Every cricketer knows that a series in Australia is one of the toughest. Beating them in their backyard takes a special effort. It does not happen over 40 overs, it happens over 20 days of hard Test cricket. In 2018-19, we played 19 days of cricket. Not many teams play 20 days of cricket because games get over in no time. We got knocked over in three days in 2020 and still won.”

The former all-rounder added that winning two-Test series in Australia remains the pinnacle of his career as a coach.

“It [Border-Gavaskar] might not be the World Cup trophy but it’s the biggest in my career. I have been part of a World Cup-winning team [1983], a World Championship of Cricket-winning side [1985]. I have called World Cup games, but those two wins in Australia are 24-carat,” said Shastri.

The opening Test match between India and Australia will be played at Perth from November 22 onwards.