R Sridhar reflects on the coaching styles of Kumble, Shastri

Team India fielding coach R Sridhar has recently remarked about the minute details a coach has to take care of. His comments have come in regard of the ongoing brouhaha surrounding the relationship between Indian captain Virat Kohli and former India coach Anil Kumble. The two iconic gentlemen were apparently at loggerheads during the tenure of Kumble as the coach of the Indian team.

An ugly and abrupt fall out between the two resulted in Kumble unceremoniously stepping down as the coach of the Indian team. R Sridhar is one of those few members of the Indian team management who have seen the team flourish under Kumble and Ravi Shastri. As per the recent quotes in The Indian Express, Sridhar tried to identify the key differences between the styles of the two headmasters the India team has seen in the last couple of years. He noted that a coach has to ensure that every player in the team is feeling secure and at the right place.

“What’s important in today’s cricket as a leader is to follow the energies within the group. It’s important to be receptive. You have to yield to the demands of the group and you have to make sure that each guy is in the best possible space,” R Sridhar quoted.

Adding further on the same note, he remarked that the current Indian side has some very experienced players. Hence, the inputs of these players also need to be entertained. “The current Indian team has some great experience. So we should allow that experience to take over and be inclusive and take the best possible decisions for the team,” remarked Sridhar.

Contrasting coaching styles

Drawing comparisons between the coaching styles of Ravi Shastri and Anil Kumble, R Sridhar mentioned that the two iconic cricketers had the same agenda of making India the superpower in cricket. However, Shastri chose a way where he identified players as characters. Kumble, on the other hand, focused on his own methodologies. He further added that it is impossible for two people to be same. Hence, the different styles of the two players are only justified well enough.

“In the Shastri era we worked on the same lines. Anil Kumble came he had his own way of doing things. Shastri was somebody who was character-based. He wanted good characters in the team, so he worked on the kind of approach he wanted to take on the field, which carried into the Kumble era as well. Kumble was somebody who wanted to achieve excellence and had his own way,” he said.

“Two different people cannot be the same. It’s like hand-writing. You and I can’t write the same. The final endeavour is to make sure that what we write is legible. Similarly, each guy wants to achieve the kind of excellence, where they want to take the team. The goal is the same, but it is different ways of achieving the goal,” he added further.