If given a one-year run, Shastri-led support staff could really make a difference, says Arshad Ayub

New Delhi: Having seen the Indian cricket team set-up from close quarters as manager in Australia, former spinner Arshad Ayub says the players are responding well to Team Director Ravi Shastri and the current support staff should be given a one-year run to make a difference. Ayub, who was with the Indian team on its four-month long Australian journey including the World Cup, feels Shastri has had a positive influence on the current crop of players. [caption id=“attachment_2286592” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File picture of Ravi Shastri. AFP[/caption] “I think Shastri is doing a very good job. He is working well with the team and the result is for everybody to see. He has brought in his vast experience and the boys are responding to his mentorship. So I think at the moment the present set-up is working really well for the unit,” Ayub told PTI in an interview from Hyderabad. “The way the team performed in Australia was a testament to that. I mean they really came well from the tri-series disappointment to play exceptionally well in the World Cup after that. The current coaching set-up has done a fantastic job and if they are given a one-year run then they could really make a difference. “Sanjay Bangar(Assistant coach), Bharat Arun (bowling coach)and R Sridhar (fielding coach)are all very able in their respective departments,” he added. Ayub, 56, though stayed non-committal when asked about the administration’s delay to find a new coach since Duncan Fletcher’s departure. “I don’t know about that, but what I know is that Shastri has fitted into the role of the Team Director very smoothly. It’s all about the team responding to a person,” he said. Ayub, who toured Bangladesh with the Kirsten-coached team in 2010, also said that an Indian can fit into the role of a coach in a better way than a foreigner. “With a foreign coach there is always that problem of communication. That is what I feel. But having said that, the team did so well under (Gary) Kirsten. He really brought the best out of the guys. I was the team manger when India toured Bangladesh under Kirsten’s mentorship. So it depends on person to person,” he said. PTI