London: His report will decide Duncan&nbsp;Fletcher's future as India's cricket coach and Ravi Shastri,&nbsp;who served as Team Director during the just-concluded limited&nbsp;overs series against England, has put his weight behind the&nbsp;under-fire Zimbabwean by calling him a 'solid character'.&nbsp;
<img title="Ravi Shastri and Duncan Fletcher" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2014/nov/9Shastri-Fletcher-1.jpg" alt="Ravi Shastri and Duncan Fletcher" width="650" height="407" /> Ravi Shastri and Duncan Fletcher 
Speaking to 'ESPNCricinfo', Shastri lavished praise on&nbsp;Fletcher, who is under the scanner after a mixed tour of&nbsp;England during which the Indians were thrashed in the Test&nbsp;series before bouncing back to win the ODIs.
"He is tremendous. He would have done over a 100 Tests as&nbsp;coach, which is massive. He is technically very sound. He is a&nbsp;solid character. He is respected. He is a fatherly figure,"&nbsp;Shastri said.
"I knew Fletcher from the 1983 World Cup. Then in 1984 I&nbsp;led an India Under-25 side to Zimbabwe, where he was my counterpart. So I was aware of his leadership qualities&nbsp;already. Also what made Fletcher's job easier was having the trio of Sanjay Bangar, Bharat Arun and R Sridhar as his&nbsp;assistant coaches," he added.
"Fletcher is the coach. He looks after the handling of&nbsp;various things including little, little stuff. My experience&nbsp;comes into play from the outside - of having been there, done&nbsp;that. The fact that I watch so much is a massive help. And my personality is such if I feel like saying something I don't&nbsp;hold back. I don't care who it is."
Speaking about his own stint with the team, Shastri said&nbsp;he is glad to have made a positive difference after the 1-3 loss in the Test series.
"I got more than I would have expected. I say that only&nbsp;because of England's record at home, not many sides have thrashed them 3-0 in a four-ODI series. It is a big&nbsp;achievement: from what they were mentally after the Test&nbsp;series defeat, and then to respond in that fashion made me&nbsp;feel proud," he said.&nbsp;
"I had to make it (the dressing room) a place where the&nbsp;boys wanted to enjoy themselves. I was very clear when I said&nbsp;I am doing this job because I believe in them. And that was&nbsp;enough. As I got talking to them one on one, things started&nbsp;falling in place," he added.
Shastri said he had plenty of one-on-one chats with the&nbsp;players during the ODI series, which India won 3-1.&nbsp;"I was not afraid to speak to a guy individually. Ground,&nbsp;bus, bar, dressing room, while eating - we were talking&nbsp;cricket.
Communication is important. The advantage I had was I&nbsp;had watched these boys a lot. I told them I have watched more&nbsp;cricket than I have played. I have learned more about cricket&nbsp;after I stopped playing," he said.

The former India all-rounder, who served as Team Director during the just-concluded limited overs series in England, puts his weight behind the under-fire Zimbabwean

Team India coach Duncan Fletcher is a 'solid character', says Ravi Shastri

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Home / Sports / Cricket / Article / Team India coach Duncan Fletcher is a 'solid character', says Ravi Shastri

Team India coach Duncan Fletcher is a 'solid character', says Ravi Shastri

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Ganeshotsav 2026