R Sridhar’s autobiography 'Coaching Beyond - My Days with the Indian Cricket Team' has revealed some amazing tales and recollections of incidents featuring various Indian cricketers with whom he interacted during his tenure as the fielding coach of the Indian men’s team.
The former Hyderabad spinner took over as India's fielding coach in 2014 and worked under Duncan Fletcher, Anil Kumble, and Ravi Shastri before stepping down with the latter after the 2021 T20 World Cup.
This meant he worked extensively with veteran spinner R Ashwin during his time with the Indian team. Sridhar has spoken about the changes he made to his coaching methods and the role that senior spinner R 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. 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 away. 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?,” Sridhar wrote in his book, quoted by Hindustan Times.
Sridhar wrote that this conversation led to him realizing 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 added.
Ashwin will be seen in the upcoming Test series at home against Australia.
