'It will remain his only regret' - Aakash Chopra analyses highs and lows of Ravi Shastri's tenure as India's head coach

Aakash felt that India should have managed at least one ICC trophy during Shastri's tenure having reached the semis in 2019 ODI World Cup and final in 2021 World Test Championship.

Besides the Namibia game on Monday being Virat Kohli's final assignment as the captain of the Indian T20I team, the Super 12 game of the T20 World Cup will also the last game for Ravi Shastri as the head coach of this side. And on the day of latter's final day on the job, former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra looked back on the highs and lows of the team during his five-year-long tenure, while pointing out that only regret Shastri will walk out with.

India head coach Ravi Shastri  (Getty Images)

Indian team, the pre-tournament favourites, failed to qualify for the T20 World Cup semi-final in the UAE, continuing their wait for a global title since the 2013 Champions Trophy win under team mentor MS Dhoni. This was also the first time in nine years that India failed to reach the semi-final of an ICC event.

Sharing his thought on his YouTube channel, Aakash felt that India should have managed at least one ICC trophy during Shastri's tenure having reached the semis in 2019 ODI World Cup and final in 2021 World Test Championship.

"Ravi Shastri will not be seen as the Indian coach hereafter. If you talk about World Cups or ICC events, you could have won at least one of the three trophies, whether it was the 2019 World Cup or the ICC mace or this World Cup. If you play three World Cups and don't win even one of them and you don't even qualify in one, it might remain his only regret," he said.

Aakash also pointed out a legacy that Shastri failed to leave back as the head coach, especially in white-ball cricket.

"I feel India could have done better in white-ball cricket. We won bilateral series repeatedly, whether it was ODIs or T20Is. But the one legacy Ravi Shastri did not leave behind was that the team did not start playing a different brand of cricket," he added.

The veteran, however, praised that Shastri did play a huge role in building a strong Test team which has won two back-to-back overseas series in Australia while also playing impressively in England.

"He made a very good Test team. The Indian team went to Australia and defeated them twice, no one had done that earlier. We played well in England," he said.

"We should have won in South Africa, if we had done slightly better selection, we could have won. I feel when we will go there under Rahul Dravid's guidance, we will win as well. It won't be that easy, their team has become good. We couldn't conquer New Zealand."