Ravi told Bharat Arun 'I told you not to recommend such novice coaches': R Sridhar reveals facing Shastri's wrath
Sridhar, in his recently-published book 'Coaching Beyond: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team', revealed having faced Shastri's wrath during his early days which resulted in a sleepless night.
Ravi Shastri and his support staff comprising bowling coach Bharat Arun, batting coach Sanjay Bangar and later Vikram Rathour, and fielding coach R Sridhar - together had taken India to a new high during their tenure with the Men in Blue. Although the team had no ICC trophies to show the extent of their efforts, India's rise as a superpower, especially in Tests, remains their biggest-ever achievement. And to create something as memorable as that, one of the key ingredients was the mutual trust and respect the coaches had for each other, although it did take time to reach to that level as Sridhar, in his recently-published book 'Coaching Beyond: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team', revealed having faced Shastri's wrath during his early days which resulted in a sleepless night.
The episode Sridhar refers to goes back to 2015, a year after he was hired for his role by the BCCI. He recalls that Shastri had thought of a small pre-game exercise for the 2015 World Cup, wherein every player would talk about their plan for the match and how they would tackle various situations.
“Ahead of the World Cup, Ravi decided that the players would speak at the team meetings. That at every meeting, the batters would speak of their game plans, how they would approach different situations, what their plans are for each bowler in the opposition. After that, all-rounders Ashwin and Jadeja would hold forth, and at the end, the fast bowlers would express their thoughts. It was a very good system, I felt, because ultimately it was the players who had to perform out in the middle,” he said.
While Sridhar was okay with the process, he felt that doing it before every game might cut its value. Hence when Arun had called him up, ahead of India's match against South Africa at the MCG, he warned him that the effectiveness of the exercise will lessen if done frequently and rather advised it to be done only before key matches.
“We had a similar exercise the day before the game against South Africa at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. That evening, I was at my old friend Noel Carr's place in Melbourne for dinner when I got a call from Arun, asking for my views on this new introduction. 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,'” he added.
However, he was unaware that Arun had put the call on speaker and that the entire conversation was heard by Shastri, who was left furious at Sridhar, and called him a “novice coach”. The 52-year-old knew he was right, but Shastri's words had left him “unnerved”.
“I didn't know, of course, that I was on speaker phone, that Ravi was listening in. I was fairly new to international cricket, and Ravi and I didn't really know each other all that well. 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,” he recalled.
However, all the tension vanished after India scripted a brilliant 130-run win against the Proteas where two South Africa batters were run out. Shastri eventually ended up praising Sridhar
“The next day, we turned in a brilliant performance in the field, we out-fielded South Africa for the first time. David Miller was run out, A.B. de Villiers was run out, thanks to great efforts by the fast bowlers, and we took all our catches. 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. Only when he felt each one had to know the others' game plan before a big game did he have inclusive, extended meetings thereafter.”