"These young coaches have no idea what I am doing"- When Indian coach Shastri was furious at R Sridhar
Bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar played a crucial role in Ravi Shastri's tenure as India's head coach. However, Sridhar did initially find it a bit difficult to bond with Shastri.
In his book 'COACHING BEYOND: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team', R Sridhar spoke about an incident when he thought he had made Shastri furious with his opinion on a certain decision.
Sridhar explained how Ravi Shastri had begun an exercise in the build-up to the 2015 World Cup where every player was asked to speak about their plans against each player from the opposition.
While R Sridhar liked the idea, he felt that it would be too exhaustive for the players if done before every single game. Bharat Arun once called him to ask how he felt about the exercise and here's what Sridhar wrote about his response:
"I knew I could speak freely to Arun, so I told him, 'It's a great concept, but we should be careful how often we do it. It's a golden goose, we should not kill it. If we do this before every game, its effectiveness will diminish. I feel it's better if we have such sessions before key matches,'”
However, Sridhar had no idea that the call was on the speaker and Ravi Shastri could hear everything that he said. The coach wasn't amused by what Sridhar said and told Bharat Arun why he didn't align with young coaches like Sridhar. On this, the former fielding coach added:
"Apparently, he wasn't very amused by what he heard. 'Baadi,' he thundered, referring to Arun by his nickname, 'I told you these young coaches have no idea what I am doing. I had told you at the very beginning not to recommend such novice coaches.' I was rattled. I knew there was merit in what I had told Arun, but I was unnerved by Ravi's reaction and didn't sleep very well that night.”
R Sridhar on how India's win over South Africa eased the tensions between him and Ravi Shastri
India completed a thumping win over South Africa in the 2015 World Cup and their sensational fielding was one of the main reasons for the huge victory. After the game, Shastri congratulated Sridhar for the work he had done with the team as he felt that helped them get the better of the Proteas.
On this, Sridhar stated:
“Ravi turned to me in the dressing room and said, 'Sri, great job. The way you have worked on the fielders is awesome.' I was mighty relieved. He had completely shed his ire of the previous night. And although he had been angry at the time, he did take my suggestion on board."
India were arguably the best fielding side in the world during Shastri's tenure and Sridhar deserves the plaudits.