'Why Should I Listen To You?': Ex-India Coach Reveals His Shocking Chat With R Ashwin

Sridhar revealed in his book 'Coaching Beyond - My Days with the Indian Cricket' that during his first week of coaching, Ravichandran Ashwin asked him why he should follow the fielding coach's drills.

Sridhar revealed in his recently published book 'Coaching Beyond - My Days with the Indian Cricket' that during his first week of coaching, Ashwin asked him why he should follow the fielding coach's drills.

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Former Hyderabad spinner R Sridhar joined team India as fielding coach in the year 2014 and after performing the role for next seven years, he decided to leave the backroom staff. Team India's fielding standard was quite high at the time when Sridhar was the fielding coach. During his seven-year-long coaching stint with the national team, he worked with greats like Duncan Fletcher, Anil Kumble and Ravi Shastri.

The former India coach, Sridhar, reportedly revealed in his recently published book 'Coaching Beyond - My Days with the Indian Cricket' that during his first week of coaching, senior spinner Ravichandran Ashwin asked him why he should follow the fielding coach's drills.

“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. 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?'” Sridhar has written in his book, Coaching Beyond - My Days with the Indian Cricket Team, Timesnow reported.

“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?"