Tendulkar Praises Shastri's Calm Leadership Ahead of WTC Final

Sachin Tendulkar sat down ahead of India's World Test Championship final against New Zealand to talk about what separates good coaching from great coaching, and his answer was simple: it's not about knowing the game. Everyone at the elite level knows how to defend, knows how to bowl an outswinger. The real work happens in the dressing room during the moments when everything feels like it's falling apart.

Tendulkar, now 48 and speaking from decades of experience, credited head coach Ravi Shastri with doing exactly that kind of work as India prepared for one of the biggest tournaments in cricket. The team was heading to England for the World Test Championship final on June 18 in Southampton, followed by a five-Test series against the hosts. It was a moment that demanded not just technical skill but psychological resilience.

India had earned its place in the final through a series of remarkable performances. The team had traveled to Australia as a severely weakened side—missing key players to injury and other circumstances—and still managed to win the series, claiming their second consecutive victory on Australian soil. Back home, they had lost the opening Test to England but recovered to win the series and secure their spot in the championship decider. These were not comfortable victories. They required the kind of mental toughness that doesn't come from a coaching manual.

Tendulkar's point was that Shastri understood this. "At this level everyone knows how to defend or drive, bowlers know how to bowl outswingers or inswingers," Tendulkar explained. "But to actually keep them in the right frame of mind is the coach's job." He emphasized that when a coach stays calm during critical moments, that composure spreads through the entire team. Problems that seem insurmountable in a state of panic often shrink when someone in authority refuses to panic. Shastri had done this successfully, Tendulkar said, and had also known when to be stern with players—but crucially, had delivered that sternness in a way that motivated rather than demoralized.

Tendulkar illustrated his point with a memory from his own playing days, a Test match in Napier against New Zealand. The hosts had batted first and posted a large total. India matched it but fell short, and New Zealand enforced the follow-on with nearly two full days remaining—a position that looked hopeless. The natural response would have been anger or resignation. Instead, coach Gary Kirsten walked into the dressing room and reframed the situation entirely. "This is the time to show what we are made of," Kirsten told them. "Let's go out and bat for two days." India did exactly that, batting through the remaining time and drawing the Test. The difference between defeat and a draw came down to how one person chose to speak to his team in a moment of adversity.

This was the standard Tendulkar was applying to Shastri's work. The coach's job was not to make players better at cricket—they were already among the best in the world. The job was to create an atmosphere where those players could access their full capability, where pressure became focus instead of paralysis. With the World Test Championship final hours away, Tendulkar's message was clear: India had the talent to win. Whether they would win might depend on whether Shastri could keep them thinking clearly when the stakes were highest.