Former Indian team fielding coach R.K. Sridhar has made revelations about Rishabh Pant in his book and told that he did not listen to him.
Image credit source: Getty Images
Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has become an integral part of the Indian cricket team over the years. The team management trusts him a lot. For this reason, even when Pant was going through a bad phase recently, the team management supported him and gave him ample opportunities. Pant’s performance has definitely not been good in limited overs but in Tests he was amazing with both bat and gloves, but former India fielding coach R.K. Sridhar has said that he was upset with Pant.
Sridhar has recently launched his book ‘Coaching Beyond’ in which he has made many revelations about Team India. In this book, he told that when he used to give some advice to Pant, he did not take him seriously. He had a car accident at the end of December in which he was injured and has been away from the field for a long time.
Pant did not agree
Sridhar has written in his book that when he used to give some advice to Pant to improve his wicketkeeping, he did not accept it. He wrote, “There were some inputs which he did not accept at all. Because he believed in his game which brought him to this level. Many times I had to obey him. I used to get mad. He was stubborn. But getting angry or upset doesn’t help anyone. I had to find ways in which Pant tries different things. Only he could tell whether these changes proved beneficial for him or not.
stopped giving advice
Sridhar said that a time had come that he had stopped giving any kind of advice to Pant. He wrote, “We used to spend a lot of time together at practice, usually it was me and Pant. I again decided that now I will be strict. I stopped giving him advice and inputs and ignored him when he looked at me questioningly. Pant is clever and hence when he does something wrong, he does not take much time to rectify it.
Pant came back
Sridhar told that when Pant was facing trouble in his wicketkeeping and was unable to improve, he came back to him again. He said, “After a few days he came to me and said, ‘Sir, you are not telling anything. Please tell me what should I do. Then I said that you should obey your mind and not your hands. After that he obeyed me and used to catch the ball with his hands while moving his body with his head.