The chief coach of the Indian cricket team, Ravi Shastri is copping a fair bit of criticism on social media ahead of India’s World Cup opener, after his photo with two women was shared on Twitter.
In a photo posted on Twitter by an Australian cricket analyst Dennis Freedman, Shastri is seen with a man and two women who seem excited to share the frame with the former Indian all-rounder.
After the photo was posted on social media with a cheeky caption on Tuesday, several people took to Twitter to comment, mostly acerbic and angry reactions.
Angry at the photo, a fan commented: "Days when john wright, Gary Kirsten, Anil Kumble dignified Indian dressing room are gone."
"'Indian cricket is at wrong hands'- Ganguly was right all along."
Ravi Shastri has been a controversial figure in Indian cricket and is known as a flamboyant person. He replaced Anil Kumble as India’s chief coach after the legendary leg-spinner’s resignation from the job in June 2017. Kumble said his relationship with captain Virat Kohli had become “untenable”.
News agency AFP later reported based on purportedly leaked emails of members of the Committee of Administrators that Virat Kohli had a role to play in Kumble’s ouster. The incident had prompted another Indian legend, Bishen Singh Bedi to criticise Virat Kohli.
While India had an impressive record of losing just one Test match out of 17 played when Kumble was the coach, the team achieved milestones such as winning the first ever Test series in Australia under Shastri – a man not entirely unknown to controversies.
India v New Zealand ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Warm Up Source: Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images
India start their World Cup campaign
When India play South Africa on Southampton on Wednesday, they’ll look to start with a victory in their opening match of the World Cup. But having lost their first two matches to England and then to Bangladesh, South Africa are in dire straits and are desperate for a win which seems like a tall ask given their recent performances against India.
During their tour of South Africa last year, India won four out of the five games against the hosts. The South Africans' troubles are also compounded by pace spearhead Dale Steyn being ruled out of the World Cup due to injury.
India, on the other hand, enters the tournament as one of the favourites with a more than impressive batting line up that boasts of the world’s number one and number two batters in Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. India's bowling attack, some cricket analysts say is their best in many generations.
The fans of the Indian cricket team have waited long (seven games before India play their first in this World Cup) to watch the men in blue take the field, we’ll know soon how they fare.
