Ravi Shastri wishes he could reverse India’s two semifinal defeats in World Cup

Ravi Shastri’s tenure as India coach was a memorable one. During his stint, which was for four years, the team travelled to Australia and beat them twice in their own backyard.

The performance was almost similar in England as India were on the cusp of winning a Test series there as well but it was called off midway due to a Covid-19 outbreaks.

Apart from his glories in red-ball cricket, the team did exceedingly well in the limited-over format as well. However, when asked to the former coach if there was any result he would like to change, Shastri pointed out the heart-breaking defeat against New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup semifinals.

“As coach that semifinal game against New Zealand in 2019 got over the same day. Unfortunately it started raining, we had the momentum,” Shastri said during an interaction on ESPNCricinfo.

India had lost the match by 18 runs, which saw the 50-over contest being played in two days. The first day began with India dictating the proceedings as the Men In Blue wrapped up the Kiwi innings for 239/8.

However, with rain coming into play the match was resumed on the reserve day as India failed to complete the 240-run chase, and were bundled out on 221.

Not just that but Shastri also recalled another match that he would have loved if the results had swung the other way round. The incident was from the 1987 World Cup, which was also a semifinal that India had lost against England.

“As a player the 87 World Cup semifinal, I think we had a better team than 83 to go the distance and win the final in Calcutta. So that semifinal loss that hurt,” he said.