Greg Chappell called up and asked Ravi Shastri, ‘How do you bounce back after so many losses?: R Sridhar

Former India fielding coach R Sridhar feels that bad days at the office are a “great coaching opportunity”. So even though the 36 all-out in Adelaide or the 78 all-out in Leeds are days no Indian team supporter would want to remember, Sridhar not only remembers days like those but has them close to his heart for they were “opportunities to learn”.

India were folded for their lowest Test score ever against Australia in the pink-ball Test at the Adelaide Oval during the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21, before they bounced back to register a victory at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and eventually clinched the series 2-1 when they were written off after the historic low.

Against England during the Pataudi Trophy earlier this year, India had to endure a similar low when they tumbled out for 78, though only to register a historic victory at the Oval to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series, which still has a Test to go after it was abandoned due to a Covid-19 scare in the Indian camp.

Opening up on how the team digests such setbacks, Sridhar said: “It was a 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. When I say coaching opportunity, it’s about understanding the person, striking a nice relationship with the players, an opportunity to coach them technically and mentally if required,” as quoted by crictoday.

“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,” he added.

Every bad day was harnessed like a gold mine under Ravi Shastri: R Sridhar 

He further revealed that former head coach Ravi Shastri received a call from legendary Australian player Greg Chappell, who asked how India manages to make such comebacks after lows.

“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 revealed.

Sridhar went on to laud Shastri for being an “outstanding man manager”: “Leadership qualities and man-management skills. These are foremost of his (Shastri) qualities that come to mind. He could get things done whether it was from the CoA then or after that BCCI. He had a great stature and that was required. He was a players’ man and knew what players wanted and helped them remain in that space. A good leader and outstanding man manager.”