England have crashed and burned in the Ashes 2025-26 series against Australia Down Under, and it’s no surprise that clamours to sack Brendon McCullum are growing louder.
Ever since the former New Zealand captain took over in 2022, England have failed to beat India and Australia in a Test series, whether at home or away. The Ashes was touted as the big mega spectacle, where expectations were high for England, considering the Bazball hype and the absence of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Steve Smith at some stage or another.
But all it took to lose the Ashes was 11 days, squandering the first three Tests quite comprehensively. McCullum did not paint himself in glory as several of his statements raised eyebrows, especially the one after the second Test, where he said that England probably “trained a bit too much” before the Test in Brisbane.
Former England spinner Monty Panesar made a left-field suggestion earlier this week, calling on the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to get Ravi Shastri on board as the coach due to his experience of winning in Australia. Speaking to Hindustan Times, Panesar explained why he believes that Shastri is the right fit for England and why there’s presently no better candidate than him.
Speaking of Shastri, he oversaw India’s two Test series wins Down Under as head coach, in 2018/19 and 2020/21. The latter came against all odds as several stars were out injured for the majority of the series, and even skipper Virat Kohli headed back home after the first Test owing to paternity leave. However, Shastri combined forces with the stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane and the duo gave the entire country something to be proud of.
Even as a player, Shastri did exceedingly well in Australia, being the lynchpin of Indian side during the 1985 World Championship which the side won by beating Pakistan in the final. The all-rounder was awarded with the Player of the Tournament, winning an AUDI.
“So, the reason I believe is that he’s the one coach who’s won in Australia. But he’s done it with, like, not a strong Indian attack either. He had a lot of injuries at that time, do you get me? So, what it is, I think he’s a very good reader of the game; he understands the emotional intelligence that I think sometimes coaches dislike. Coaches may not understand or feel the player, and I think Ravi Shastri knows how to beat Australia,” said Panesar.
“And that’s the key, because in England we only win, what, once in every 20 years or something like that. So you need someone with that experience, the know-how of how to win in Australia. Like, you know, if you don’t know how to win in Australia and you’ve never done it before, you’re always just going to use your best strategic brain or the way you think about it. Unless you have gone out and done it, it’s different,” he added.
The former England spinner, who was part of England’s famous Test series-winning squad in 2012, stated that the former India head coach can be brought on board as a specialist red-ball coach with the aim of helping England win the Ashes in 2027.
“He knows how to win in Australia, he knows that. I think he’ll probably only want to do Test, I suppose. Probably say to him, here’s a two-year assignment until the next Ashes. Your job is to win us the Ashes in England. That’s it. Go and make the team for us, do everything that’s required, and you go out and do, that’s what we need. And then they’ll likely look into the county system and everything else. That’ll be his job. His job is to win us the Ashes in England. That’s it. That’s what we want,” said Panesar.
“Someone like Ravi Shastri, they’ll sit with him and say, OK, how do we get people who’ve performed really well in county cricket in the England team? What is the current strategy? And it’s a different voice. We’re so accustomed to Australian, New Zealand, and English voices. This will be an Indian voice, offering a distinct perspective. And it may just refresh the English domestic programme and also refresh the way England thinks about Test cricket and selection,” he added.
Panesar agrees with Cook
During the opening day of the fourth Ashes Test between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, former England captain Alastair Cook minced no words and called out the current management for not being in perfect sync with the county system. Panesar also agreed with the assessment, saying the constant performers are being overlooked by the McCullum and Ben Stokes-led regime.
“So, if you’re a county cricketer and you’ve had a really good season, what happens? Do you have a future with the England team? And at the moment, that’s not the case because they don’t pick players like that. They pick players on potential. We’ve invested two years in Shoaib Bashir, and he’s not even ready to play because he’s not putting any pressure on Ben Stokes during the warm-up games,” said Panesar.
“And then they are in a position to say, well, we’ve got to pick Will Jacks because he’s a bits and pieces player, like a Washington Sundar type. Bowls a bit, but bats, that kind of thing. And he’s only had like three first-class games or something like that last season. He’s not even ready to play Test cricket, but he’s taken two top-order wickets. So you say, well, that’s what we want from you, is a couple of top-order wickets, and you’ve done your job. It’s just that’s the problem,” he added.