Former India fielding coach R Sridhar recently released a book titled 'Coaching Beyond: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team'.
The book is filled with plenty of fascinating anecdotes and startling revelations, which gives the fans a sneak peek into the Indian dressing room.
In his book, Sridhar also shared an interesting story involving a conversation between MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli before the last day of the Adelaide Test in 2014.
It was Kohli’s debut as Test captain for India as Dhoni missed the game due to an injury. The visitors were tasked to chase 364 in the fourth innings and Sridhar said Virat had decided to go for the target instead of playing for a draw.
"Virat was unequivocal in what India's approach would be the next morning no matter what target they set us to chase. We were already looking at a required rate of 4 an over in case Australia declared overnight, which day did. But Virat was unshakable in his belief that there was no question of battening down the hatches and looking for a draw," Sridhar wrote in his book.
He also revealed how Dhoni had actually tried to convince Kohli to rethink his plan of going for the target on a wearing last day pitch.
"Virat later told me that on the bus ride back to the hotel, MS Dhoni slid into the seat next to him. 'Look, Virat, you can chase down this total. You are that kind of a player and we all know that but as captain, you will also have to think about what the others. Are the batters capable of playing that positively and attempting to chase down 360 on the final day of a Test match? While making decisions, you will have to consider the strength of the entire team'," Sridhar stated.
"Virat said he saw some merit in what MS had said but he was clear in his mind that positivity was the way forward. Virat's reply to MS was pithy, 'Only if we try, we can know na? Whether we can do it or not. We have not chased 360 on the last day of a Test match ever before because we haven't yet tried to do that. Let us try and give it a shot. Unless we try how will know how good we are?'" he added.
As it turned out, the Indian team went after the target and suffered a heartbreaking 48-run defeat. Kohli starred with the bat for the visitors in the chase, slamming 141 off 175 balls while Murali Vijay contributed 99.
However, other Indian batters failed to rise to the occasion as the tourists were bowled out for 315 in 87.1 overs.
