'Why should I listen to you?' - R Sridhar reveals an interesting conversation with star Indian player during early days of his coaching

R Sridhar (Source: Twitter)

Indian cricket has been traditionally known to give the world some of the best batters who’ve played the game. However, the same was not the case in terms of fielding till the first decade of 2000. The demands of the modern game made fielding an integral part of it and the Indian team began taking it seriously. Former Indian fielding coach R Sridhar who took over the job in 2014 recently shared about the changes he made to his coaching methods during his stint with India.

Sridhar had worked with the Indian U19 team as an assistant coach, Punjab franchise of the Indian T20 League as fielding coach and as head coach of teams in domestic cricket. However, transitioning to coaching one of the best international teams like India was not an easy task for him at all. He also revealed the role that off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin played in bringing those changes.

“Being with Ashwin, I was struck by one of our early conversations in my first week with the national team,” writes Sridhar in his autobiography 'Coaching Beyond - My Days with the Indian Cricket Team'.

“Non-confrontationally, he asked me, 'If you don't mind, Sridhar sir, why should I listen to you and follow the fielding drills you suggest? Why should I do what you are asking me to? From 2011 to 2014, we had Trevor Penney as the fielding coach. Now you have come in, you will be there for let's say two to three years. You will say something; you will go a way. Then a new fielding coach will come. If I am honest, in the next three years, I have a lot at stake. I should be convinced that what you are saying is going to work for me. It should help my game, otherwise why should I listen to you?'”

R Sridhar stepped down from his job in 2021

Sridhar said that the conversation helped him realise that he needed to make changes to the way he has worked thus far when working with the Indian team. “We knew each other quite well by then, and I immediately got where he was coming from. His questions set me thinking: how much should I coach? What is coaching really?” he says.

The 52-year-old worked under the head coaches Duncan Fletcher, Anil Kumble and Ravi Shastri before stepping down along with Shastri after the 2021 20-20 World Cup.