R Sridhar left his role as India's fielding coach after seven years in the position after the T20 World Cup last month. Sridhar, whose tenure saw India make a remarkable improvement in fielding standards, was succeeded by T Dilip in the role.
Sridhar was a core part of Ravi Shastri's coaching staff as the side achieved memorable feats in home and away tours. In an interview, the former fielding coach opened up on his time in the Indian team and lauded the side's “resilience" and a never-say-die attitude.
Sridhar's term coincided with India's incredible twin-Test series victories in Australia, as well as the side's impressive outings in England Tests earlier this year. While the team didn't win an ICC trophy in Sridhar's tenure, India enjoyed a stellar run of wins across all formats of the game.
“It was wonderful opportunity to learn. To me, as a coach, a bad day is a great coaching opportunity. Good days are not great coaching opportunities but bad days are,” Sridhar told PTI.
"When I say coaching opportunity, it's about understanding the person, striking a nice relationship with the players, opportunity to coach them technically and mentally if required.
{{/usCountry}}"When I say coaching opportunity, it's about understanding the person, striking a nice relationship with the players, opportunity to coach them technically and mentally if required.
{{/usCountry}}“You get to know about player and team. Basically how you are on your bad day, says what you are as a team. This team was outstanding in terms of resilience.”
The former India fielding coach also recalled a conversation between former India coach Greg Chappell and Shastri, where the Australian lauded the latter on his ability to steer comebacks.
“Recently, Greg Chappell called up and asked Ravi Bhai, “How the hell do you bounce back after so many losses.” That's a benchmark for this team. Every bad day was harnessed, like a gold mine,” Sridhar said.
The Indian coaching staff saw a shuffle after the T20 World Cup this year, with Ravi Shastri leaving the role after the completion of his tenure. Former India captain Rahul Dravid succeeded Shastri in the role, and made a winning start with T20 and Test series victory over New Zealand.