'Difficult to create good environment': Ex-IND WK says players 'need to be responsible' on Ashwin's comments on Shastri

India's leading off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had opened up in detail on his struggles with injuries and fitness during his time with Team India in the 2018-19 season, which had ruled him out of action for a considerable period of time. Ashwin recalled India's tour of Australia, where he was forced to miss out on three Tests due to ‘athletic pubalgia', and the impact it had on his position in the team.

The off-spinner referred to then-head coach Ravi Shastri's comments following a victorious end to the series, where he called Kuldeep Yadav as India's “no.1 overseas player,” saying that he was “crushed” with the statement.

Former Team India wicketkeeper Saba Karim, who also served as BCCI's General Manager for cricket operations, talked about Ashwin's statement in detail and insisted that Rahul Dravid's role as ahead coach becomes “very important” in situations like these.

“When these things come out, it is difficult to create the right environment, which is really important to perform at the international level. And for the exact same reason, I think Rahul Dravid's role is very important. The biggest challenge for Rahul is to get the players move on from the past controversies and create a good environment,” Saba Karim said in the 'Khelneeti podcast'.

"How you do it? That's for him to decide. Either you bring new rules, or make some changes in the system.

“You don't want the captain to feel immense pressure from his own players. That is why I think the role of head coach is very important. There needs to be transparency between everyone so that you can perform at the optimum level.”

Saba also recalled the time when a similar situation arose in India women's national team, and said that they introduced a number of rule changes over the players' interaction with media.

“When I was there, I didn't have the Indian men's team under me. I used to look after the India women's team, India U-19s and India ‘A’. In the India women's national team, we noticed that the players of the women's national team were talking to the media on their own accord. So we put a number of rules and regulations over their interaction with the media; (for example) you need to take permission from the head coach or BCCI before talking to media, verify with the media manager and the interviewer and others,” said Saba.

"Slowly, the players began to realise that they are responsible and a brand ambassador for India, so they need to be more responsible. We didn't see any such problems with the women's national team then."