Outgoing coach Ravi Shastri says a bigger gap between IPL & T20 WC would've been ideal

Outgoing team India head coach Ravi Shastri said that the players were physically and mentally drained coming into this tournament (T20 World Cup). He said while this wasn't an excuse for the team not performing it could have created an impact and that he would have liked his players to have some more rest coming into this competition. 

''I am mentally drained but I expect that at my age but these guys are physically and mentally drained. Six months in a bubble...What we would have ideally liked was a bigger gap between the IPL and the T20 World Cup'' he said. 

He further went on to add that team didn't give their 100% in terms of performance output and admitted defeat "It's when the big games come and the pressure hits you. You are not that switched on as you should be. It's not an excuse. We take defeat because we are not scared of losing. Because in trying to win, you will lose a game. Here, we didn't try to win because that X-factor was missing."

Rahul Dravid will raise the bar for this team says Ravi Shastri

Ravi Shastri further went on to comment about his successor Rahul Dravid and said that he has inherited a great team, which, with his presence, are only going to get better "I think in Rahul Dravid they have got a guy, who, I would say has inherited a great team. And I think with his stature and with his experience, he can only raise the bar for this team in time to come because there are still a lot of players here who will play for another three-four years which is very important" he said during the pre-match. 

The coach also heaped praise on skipper Virat Kohli and called him a fantastic leader and credited him for India's performance in recent years "It's not a team in transition overnight and that will make the biggest difference. Virat is still there, he has done a fantastic job as the leader of the side. In fact, he has been one of the best ambassadors for Test match cricket over the last five years. A lot of credit goes to him in the way he's thought about how he wants the team to play the game and how the team has rallied around him." he added. 

Image: AP