Former India fielding coach R Sridhar has revealed that it was a challenge for him to work with Rishabh Pant initially. The southpaw made an impactful debut for India, coming off a fresh U19 World Cup campaign for India. Sridhar spilled the beans on the efforts to tweak a flamboyant Pant’s technique and the struggle behind it.
Was managing Rishabh Pant tough?
The former fielding coach spoke about the need to change the coaching techniques in order to adapt to the plaer’s techniques. He revealed that he changed his style of coaching to suit players like Pant, highlighting that he followed the ‘less is more theory’.
“With Rishabh (Pant) this was an example because he was a young kid, a teenager, 20 years old. Just come after the Under-19 World Cup. He made his debut, but you know it was difficult for me to connect with him initially. It was a challenge because he had his ways, so you let it be. It took some time for us to build that trust and for that I had to change my style of approach to coaching a little bit and understand where he is coming from, what he wanted,” Sridhar said on Anubhav Talks.
Latest news
“I had to course correct somewhere midway. I said no, with this boy, ‘less’ is the way to go about it. Then I made myself redundant and that is when the trick happened, and we connected,” Sridhar added.
Rishabh Pant’s road to India comeback
Pant will be making his comebeack to Test cricket after nearly a year following a horrific road accident. While he made his white-ball return in the T20 World Cup, it is expected that the southpaw will be India’s first-choice keeper in IND vs BAN Test series. His preparations for the longest-format of the game will get underway with the Duleep Trophy which commences fron September 5.
