Former Spinner Wants Ravi Shastri To Replace Brendon McCullum As England's Head Coach

Former England spinner Monty Panesar wants former India head coach Ravi Shastri to replace Brendon McCullum as the head coach of the England men’s cricket team. McCullum, who assumed charge of England’s Test team in June 2022 and white-ball sides in January 2025, is facing a lot of criticism these days. Under his guidance, England failed to win the Ashes in 2023 and have suffered three defeats in three matches played so far of the ongoing Ashes series in Australia.

After England lost the Ashes in 11 days, Panesar has called for change in leadership in England. According to him, former India head coach Shastri is the ideal candidate to replace McCullum. Shastri served as head coach of the Indian men’s cricket team from 2017 to 2021 and helped

them win back-to-back Test series in Australia.

While speaking to an India-based journalist, Panesar said, “You have to think: who exactly knows how to beat Australia? How do you take advantage of Australia’s weaknesses, mentally, physically, and tactically? I think Ravi Shastri should become England’s next head coach.”

Baz on his England future

After England suffered a defeat by 82 runs in the third Test played at Adelaide Oval, McCullum admitted that he is uncertain about his future as England’s head coach.

“I don’t know,” he said when asked whether he would still be in charge at the start of the 2026 English summer. “It’s not really up to me, is it? I’ll just keep trying to do the job, try to learn the lessons we haven’t quite got right here, and try to make some adjustments. Those questions are for someone else, not for me.”

“It’s a pretty good gig. It’s good fun. You travel the world with the lads and try to play some exciting cricket and achieve things. For me, it’s about trying to get the very best out of the people and accomplish what you can with them. Those other decisions are up to other people.”

“But from my point of view, I’m enjoying the time I’ve got with these guys, and I think we’ve made some progress from when I took over to where we are. We’re not the finished article, but we’ve definitely improved as a cricket team. We’ve developed an identity. Now’s the time in these last two Tests to really show that identity and try to salvage something from the series,” added McCullum.