Former India coach Ravi Shastri – now once again a reputed commentator – has posted a picture on social media with a man whom he described as the “heartbeat of the Indian cricket team”. However, the man with him isn’t a star cricketer like Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma, or even the coach Gautam Gambhir. In fact, it is a less familiar name, in the form of Team India’s underrated throwdown specialist, Raghuvendra Dwivedi – more fondly recognized as ‘Raghu’ by players, coaches and fans of the team.
“Always good to see the Man Friday and the heartbeat of the Indian Cricket team – Raghu,” Shastri posted on X, before the start of India’s second Test against Bangladesh at Kanpur.
Raghavendra Dwivedi has been a part of Team India’s set up since 2011, when he joined following on from a stint at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
Always good to see the Man Friday and the heartbeat of the Indian Cricket team – Raghu pic.twitter.com/DkT95qODhP
— Ravi Shastri (@RaviShastriOfc) September 27, 2024
Shastri described Raghu as ‘Man Friday’, referring to the famous character named ‘Friday’ from the book ‘Robinson Crusoe’ by Daniel Defoe. Here, it refers to a faithful assistant.
Raghu has been an integral part of Team India’s backroom staff and training sessions over 13 years. In fact, Virat Kohli also singled him out for praise before, in 2020.
“I believe the improvement this team has shown while playing fast bowling since 2013 has been because of Raghu,” Kohli had said, while on a live session with former Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal.
“He has good concepts about footwork, bat movement of players. He has improved his skills so much that from sidearm he easily hurls the balls at 155 kmph,” Kohli had added.
India beat Bangladesh by a thumping 280 runs in the first Test in Chennai, and will be aiming to complete a 2-0 sweep in Kanpur, as well as further strengthening their position on top of the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle 2023-25 table.
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