Ravi Shastri lashes out at Sourav Ganguly over interview for Team India coach

Ravi Shastri has hit out at former India captain Sourav Ganguly accusing him of being disrespectful. Shastri, who played for India, was overlooked for the post of Team India's new coach. He lashed out at Ganguly for skipping his interview which took place earlier in the month.

Ganguly along with Sachin Tendulkar and V V S Laxman comprised the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) that was involved in the selection process of the Indian cricket team's new head coach. The CAC interviewed 21 shortlisted candidates and Shastri was said to be one of the front-runners for the job due to his past experience. Eventually, former spinner Anil Kumble was selected.

What irked the former all-rounder was that during the interview process, Ganguly was out for a meeting due to his role as President of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). This, Shastri felt, was disrespectful to the job he was entrusted with.

"Nothing surprises me in Indian cricket anymore. A member of the committee (Ganguly) wasn't present and that was disrespectful to the selection process. A person was disrespectful of a candidate who he was going to interview. He was disrespectful of the job he was entrusted with," he said as quoted by the Hindustan Times.

"Next time be present in a meeting, especially when it is as important as this one," Shastri added.

Shastri, who played 80 Tests and 150 One Day Internationals for the national team, took charge as the team director in 2014, getting the job after India had been thrashed 3-1 in the Test series in England.

Under his supervision, the team reached the semi-final of the ICC T20 World Cup, won their first Test series in Sri Lanka in 22 years when they beat them 2-1 and also completed a historic 3-0 whitewash of then number one ranked team South Africa.