No ‘marriage’, Shastri happy with ‘honeymoon’

The last line from “Ravi da”? “Like I said before, ami tumake bhalo bashi, or whatever.” Read on:

• What did you tell the team, after the World Cup disaster?

From the outset, I said very clearly that I want to see you guys enjoy the game. The bottomline was team ethics. We might have 15 individuals in the team, but before the individual, comes the team.

I like honeymoons, anyway. The more the merrier. The thing is I was very clear right from the oustet that I would do this job because it was a tough time for India. I was free, but I had made my stand clear with the establishment that I was under a contract with ESPN-Star who are my employers. I am a professional, I believe in work ethics, I believe in contracts.

• When you took over, how did you find Team India?

They are a great bunch of guys. I didn’t go to the World Cup, I watched from here only. I kept reading a lot. But what I saw was a brilliant bunch. Camaraderie was fantastic. Not anything I had thought, because of what I had read. When you see these guys play the way they are, enjoying in the dressing room, I see a positive sign.

• Have you been using your favourite words like ‘no mercy, no prisoners’ in the dressing room, too?

I think they know me and my language very well. That’s how I speak. If you need an explanation of what ‘show no mercy, take no prisoners’ means, it means you don’t give an inch and you take a yard. You are out here to beat an opposition, and you do it fairly and squarely.

• So what kind of a coach does India need, Greg Chappell or Ravi Shastri?

On that, I will hold my cards close to my chest, for the moment.