Ravi Shastri: In India, jealous gang wanted me to fail so I developed thicker skin than leather of the Dukes ball

Robert Key will need to grow a thick skin akin to the Dukes ball just like I grew one to counter the jealous people former India head coach Ravi Shastri said on how the exEngland opener should go out about his job as ECBs Director of CricketShastri was at helm of Indias coaching staff between 2014 to 2021 save one year in the middle when Anil Kumble was given the charge In an interview to UKs The Guardian newspaper Shastri said that there was a gang of people in India who always wanted him to failJust like Shastri Key has also been an acclaimed commentator for a long time and doesnt have a coaching degree as he tries to ease into a new and very different role I didnt have coaching badges either Level oneLevel two that And in a country like India there is always jealousy or a gang of people willing you to fail I had a thick skin thicker than the leather of the Dukes ball you use A real solid hideAnd you need a bloody hide over here Rob will develop this as he does the job because every day you are judged And I am glad he has a lot of captaincy experience from his time at Kent because communication with the players is absolutely paramount Shastri was quoted as saying by the British newspaperFrom his own experience of working with the Indian team Shastri feels that national teams across the cricketing world function in a pretty similar fashion Rob may have more work with the domestic game but when it comes to the national team it is very similar The most important thing is getting among the players and setting a tone from the outset what you believe in what you think of them and changing the mindset to compete and winYou have to be bullish and brutish in wanting to achieve that For us and now England it was about setting the challenge of winning abroad big time I was very firm when it came to team culture all the prima donnas and all that shit that had to go out of the window early Shastri explainedOutlining the philosophy and team culture is important according to Shastri and thats what he had drilled in when India beat Australia in two backtoback away series it was also outlining how we want to play to be aggressive and ruthless to up the fitness levels to get a group of fast bowlers to take 20 wickets overseas And it was about attitude especially when playing the Aussies I told the boys if one single expletive comes your way give them three back two in our language and one in theirsShastri also feels that Key needs to discuss issues with former Test captain Joe Root to understand how it all worksRob will have an adjustment period to understand the issues and will need to speak in detail with Joe Root for his experiences as Test captain But in my 24 years commentating I did not miss a beat or a ball of Indian cricketAnd he Key will have covered a huge amount too So youre not lagging behind by an inch youre abreast of what a team requires but also what other teams are doing You should be able to leapfrog over all those early issues and get into the nitty gritty straight awayShastri felt that Ben Stokes would be the ideal choice to take the England team forward The adrenaline of captaincy not that he needs it could fire Stokes up to be something even more than the incredible player he is now The important relationship is with the captain iquest the moment there is friction things go downhillBut they will be fine because the England I saw last year they have enough talent and skill to compete Theres no doubt about that in my mind Its all about their mindsetThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for the dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the contents in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever