'My job is not to butter everyone's toast': Ex-India coach Ravi Shastri responds to R Ashwin's 'I was crushed' comment
Ravi Shastri noted that his words actually helped Ashwin work on his fitness, citing the spinner's current form as the outcome of it.
Days after Ravichandran Ashwin's interview where he spoke about Ravi Shastri's comments which left him “absolutely crushed," the former India coach shared his views on it.
Shastri while speaking to The Indian Express said he was just stating facts and as a coach his job was not to butter everyone's toast. The former India coach stated that Ashwin was not part of the Sydney Test and Kuldeep Yadav bowled exceptionally well, so praising the latter was fair enough.
“Ashwin did not play the Test in Sydney and Kuldeep bowled well. So it's fair I give Kuldeep a chance. If that hurt Ashwin, I am very happy. It made him do something different," said the 59-year-old.
Sharing more insights on the episode, Shastri noted that his words actually helped Ashwin work on his fitness, citing the spinner's current form as the outcome of it.
“My job is not to butter everyone’s toast. My job is to state facts without agenda. The way Ashwin bowled in 2019 and the way he has bowled in 2021 is chalk and cheese. About throwing Ashwin under the bus, he need not worry because I had told the bus driver to stop 2-3 feet short. The message to Ashwin in 2018 was that he had to be fit. He has worked on that and look how's bowling now. He's world-class,” he added.
In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, India's star spinner recalled incidents from India's tour of Australia in 2018-19. It was during the interaction, Ashwin opened up about his disappointment with the former coach as he branded Kuldeep as “India's No. 1 overseas spinner”.
Sharing his thoughts on the coach's comments, Ashwin said: “In that moment, I felt crushed. Absolutely crushed,” before adding he felt like being thrown “under the bus”.
Kuldeep had taken a fifer in Sydney, a contest affected by rain. India had then scripted history by securing their maiden Test series win against Australia at their home, winning the four-match series 2-1.