Last Update: January 23, 2023, 11:06 AM IST
Ravi Shastri had pulled up MS Dhoni for his slow batting against England in 2018.
However, Sridhar mentioned that Dhoni was not spoken to directly as Shastri maintained only one eye contact. Meanwhile, Dhoni also never lost his eye. Sridhar said the India legend never looked troubled and remained calm and composed.
MS Dhoni’s slow batting against England in 2018 blew the lid off then India Head coach Ravi Shastri was so furious that he looked the India stalwarts in the eye at a team meeting and asked them to mend their ways as he would not allow a defensive approach under his watch. All the explosive details of this indirect outburst came to the fore in the new book ‘Coaching Beyond: My Days with the Indian’ by then India fielding coach R Sridhar on Monday. Cricket Team.’
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The incident is of 2018 when Virat Kohli India toured England for a three-match T20I as well as ODIs, which was followed by a five-match Test series. India had won the T20I series 2-1 and also won the first ODI before suffering a humiliating defeat in the second match after a brilliant century from Joe Root. However, India lost that match by 86 runs, with the Men in Blue chasing England under skipper Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina in the middle. However, both were gone after a few balls, following which Hardik Pandya was dismissed for 21, which meant that Dhoni would have had the bulk of the scoring left.
With just the tail-enders for company, Mahi shut shop and India lost the match without a fight. This infuriated a flamboyant Shastri who was not pleased with the manner of the defeat. In such a situation, Dhoni’s colorless batting was completely opposite to Shastri’s basic philosophy.
“We were in the hunt when Virat and Suresh Raina were batting, but as soon as we lost wickets, MS had only bowlers left to go in the last 10 overs. Unsurprisingly, they closed up shop, and even though our required rate in the last 10 was around 13 per over, we managed only some 20 runs in the next six overs. That innings was when MS scored 10,000 ODI runs which is a very important milestone. We were all thrilled for him, but we also wanted to know why he didn’t score a single shot on target,” Sridhar wrote.
Dhoni scored 37 runs in 59 balls with the help of two fours before getting out in the 47th over. India eventually collapsed for 236 runs. Shastri did not spare Dhoni in the team meeting ahead of the series decider at Headingley, Leeds.
“Ravi, meanwhile, was seething. He was upset that we lost by 86 runs, but how did we lose the match, how did we lose without a fight. We didn’t go for the target, we got down by throwing a punch. Didn’t go, we just fell down easily.
“The decider was at Headingley, and we had a team meeting the previous day. The whole team 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.” was, as he said, ‘Whoever you are, there should never be another occasion when we lose the match without trying to win it. It will not happen under my supervision. And if anyone does, it will be under my supervision. The vigil will be the last bloody game of cricket. You can lose a game of cricket, there is no shame in that, but you will not lose like this.
However, Sridhar mentioned that Dhoni was not spoken to directly as Shastri maintained only one eye contact. Meanwhile, Dhoni also never lost his eye. Sridhar said the India legend never looked troubled and remained calm and composed.
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“MS was sitting right in front, and while Ravi’s words were for the team, his eyes were trained on MS. He didn’t look around or panic because one of his many admirable qualities is his ability to pick up knocks, especially when he knows in his heart he deserves them,” said the former India fielding coach.
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