Former India fielding coach R. Sridhar opened up on an incident in 2018 when then-head coach Ravi Shastri indirectly took on MS Dhoni during a team meeting for his slow batting.
Sridar released his new book ‘Coaching Beyond: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team’ recently where he opened up on an incident from 2018 when India was touring England. India won the T20I series 2-1 and had won the first ODI. This was followed by an 86-run loss in the second match where the visitors were in the hunt when Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina were at the crease.
But things changed when they were dismissed quickly, meaning that the onus was on Dhoni to get the job done. However, the wicketkeeper decided to shut shop and India didn’t put up a fight in the end.
“We were in the hunt when Virat and Suresh Raina were batting, but as we lost wickets, MS was left with only the bowlers for company going into the last 10 overs. Uncharacteristically, he shut shop, and even though our required rate in the last 10 was nearly 13 an over, we only managed some 20 runs in the next six overs. That was the innings when MS got to 10,000 ODI runs a very significant milestone. We were all thrilled for him, but we also wanted to know why he hadn’t made even a token attempt at the target.”
“Ravi, meanwhile, was seething. He was furious not because we lost by 86 runs, but how we lost the game, how we went down without putting up a fight. We didn’t go for the target, we didn’t go down throwing a punch, we just went down tamely. The head coach wasn’t going to let that one sail harmlessly by,” said Sridahr in his book.
The former fielding coach went on to say that Shastri didn’t hold back during a team meeting and indirectly slammed Dhoni for his approach in the game.
“The decider was in Headingley, and we had a team meeting the previous day. The entire squad was in attendance, including all members of the support staff, and I knew Ravi was going to make a strong point. He was at his loudest and fiercest as he said, ‘No matter who you may be, there should not be another occasion when we lose a match not trying to win it. It will not happen under my watch. And if anyone does it, that will be the last bloody game of cricket they will play under my watch. You can lose a cricket game, no shame in that, but you will not lose like this.”
