Ravi Shastri, who stepped down as the head coach of the Indian cricket team following the T20 World Cup, spoke of his journey with the side from 2014 — when he first came on board as team director — and the hurdles that he faced from the administration during his tenure. In an exclusive conversation with The Times of India, Shastri relived how he was kept in the dark after being let go in 2016 despite fetching decent results with the side in his first stint.

“Indian cricket was not in good shape again after back-to-back overseas losses between 2012 and 2014. They were languishing back of the table across formats. Badly beaten overseas – 4-0 in England, 4-0 in Australia and again down in England. In 2014, when Srinivasan asked me to come on board as director, I told him to ‘give me a day to think this out’. The only big picture they had in mind at that time was to get the house in order and instil a sense of firmness and self-belief back in the players.”

Shastri added that with the BCCI allowing him to pick his own support staff, the decision was made easier. “BCCI entrusted me with the entire responsibility of picking my own support staff. I literally had the whole confidence of the board, so I jumped right in.”

However, despite taking the team to the semifinals of the 2015 World Cup, Shastri was let go a year later, and replaced by Kumble at the helm, a move that was a “bolt from the blue” for Shastri.

“It was a bolt from the blue [the ouster]. In less than two years after I was asked to set aside my broadcast career, leave everything else and join the team, I suddenly found myself out for no reason. I had sown the seeds and the fruits were beginning to show and out of nowhere I came to know I was being replaced. Nobody told me why.”

“It hurt because of the manner in which it was all done. For all that I had contributed, there were better ways to let me know.”

Shastri, though, was back in 2017 after Kumble and Virat Kohli failed to see eye-to-eye. “During my second stint, I came after a huge controversy. And it was literally egg on the faces of those who wanted me away. They opted for someone and nine months later, they came back to the very guy they threw out.”

After being promised to be allowed to pick his own support staff in 2014, he was hindered from the same when he made clear his intentions of working with Bharat Arun as the bowling coach later. “They didn’t want to give me Bharat Arun either as the bowling coach. And I’m not pointing fingers at people in general. Specific people. I must say an attempt was made to ensure I don’t get the job. But such is life.”