Glimpses of greatness: reviewing the Shastri years (2017-2021)

We review the Indian team over the last four years - the period since July 2017 when Ravi Shastri took over as head coach. Click here to support 81allout on Ko-Fi Talking Points: The significance of being a very good team in a competitive era The bowling depth in this era world-wide - which is superior to previous teams Irfan Pathan in the mid-2000s - and the first glimpse of picking five bowlers India's dominance over West Indies and Sri Lanka in the last decade The confidence to play four fast bowlers even if it meant weakening the batting India's phenomenal home record over the last decade The perception experiment with Atherton, Hussain and Stewart India's home conditions being more varied than conditions away The value of Bharat Arun - India's bowling coach The post-facto Vijay Shankar outrage The diffuse excellence of this Indian team - and the clamour for an ICC Trophy The Dhoni problem in the 2019 World Cup Participants: Karthik Krishnaswamy ( @the_kk ) Kartikeya Date ( @cricketingview ) Siddhartha Vaidyanathan ( @sidvee ) Related: 'I have absolutely no regrets about the book launch': Ravi Shastri - Guardian 'How do I take 20 wickets overseas?' - Kartikeya Date - Cricketingview John Wright's Indian summers - Amazon.com India's home record in the 2010s rivals the great Australian era - Deepu Narayanan - Cricbuzz.com Not enough home advantage? No problem for India - Karthik Krishaswamy - ESPNcricinfo 'I cannot tell a bowler what to do or not do. I need to help them understand their own rhythm': Bharat Arun - Karthik Krishnaswamy - ESPNcricinfo 'If I don't take wickets even in one innings, I think my career for India is over': Ishant Sharma - Nagraj Gollapudi - ESPNcricinfo 'I was waiting for it' - Vijay Shankar on bowling the final over against Australia - ESPNcricinfo