'Why should I listen to you and follow the fielding drills you suggest?' - Former India fielding coach recalls his first conversation with Ravichandran Ashwin

Former team India fielding coach R Sridhar has recalled a conversation that he had with veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and also explained how it made him make changes to his style of coaching.

Sridhar was associated with the Indian cricket team as a fielding coach between 2014 to 2021 and during his term, he got a chance to work alongside a few head coaches including Duncan Fletcher, Anil Kumble, and Ravi Shastri. 

Meanwhile, R Sridhar has mentioned that Ashwin made it very clear to the former during his early days as fielding coach that the offie would only pay heed to his advice provided it improves his game in the long run. 

In the next three years, I have a lot at stake: Ashwin to R Sridhar

“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,” read an excerpt from R Sridhar’s autobiography titled 'Coaching Beyond - My Days with the Indian Cricket Team'.

“Now you have come in, you will be there for let's say two to three years. You will say something; you will go a way. 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?,” he added.

“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 further added.

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