There were people willing you to fail when I took charge; I made myself thick-skinned: Shastri | #ukscams | #datingscams | #european

“And I didn’t have coaching badges (either). Level one? Level two? F*** that. And in a country like India, there is always jealousy or a gang of people willing you to fail. I had a thick skin, thicker than the leather of the Dukes ball you use. A real solid hide.

The 59-year-old revealed an anecdote when he was commentating at The Oval during India’s tour of England in 2014, and he was asked by the BCCI to take over as team director the next day. The flamboyant former cricketer said he didn’t see it coming.

“I had no warning. I was commentating at the Oval during India’s (2014) tour of England and came off air to find six or seven missed calls. ‘Seven bloody calls? What’s happened here?’ (The BCCI) just said: ‘We want you to take over, starting tomorrow, at any cost.’ I told them I’d have to speak to my family and commercial partners but they just said they would sort all that out. And like that I was straight in from the commentary box. You’ll see when I joined the setup (during the ODIs), I was still in jeans and loafers. Instantly my job changed,” said Shastri.