Former India fielding coach R Sridhar revealed that he used to call Deepak Hooda "coach killer" during his U19 days. He also recalled how they had to lose expensive white balls because of Hooda’s power-hitting in practice sessions, and at times, they didn’t allow him to bat.
Notably, Hood has been getting regular chances in India’s T20I team after his impressive outing in the IPL 2022. He is now part of the India squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2022 in the UAE, and Sridhar was happy to see the all-rounder’s growth and consistency in the game.
As Reported by News 18, R Sridhar said: “He has come of age. I have known him since his U19 days, when I was a coach there. [He was] young, enthusiastic, and hardworking. I used to call him a coach killer because he loves to practice and practice. Even during his U19 days, he used to come up and ask, ‘Sir, let’s do a power-hitting session’. He loved it.”
The former fielding coach also revealed how they had to stop Hooda from doing power-hitting sessions, as he used to hit the ball out of the stadium and they lost expensive Kookaburra white balls.
Sridhar signed off by saying, “We used to tell him, ‘No Deepak, you are not coming because you are hitting the balls into Cubbon Park (a famous area in Bengaluru) and we are losing expensive white kookaburra balls. You are not supposed to hit the ball there, across the road’. He used to have a laugh.”
