R. Sridhar: "We have to get Pant ready for England. After his exploits in Brisbane and Sydney, he is a sure shot. The whole world will be looking at him."

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

 

One of the biggest reasons behind India's win was their decision to play Rishabh Pant after the defeat in Adelaide. It changed the complexion of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. India's fielding coach R Sridhar speaks about why they went back to Pant and the work the wicketkeeper is putting behind the scenes in an exclusive interview with this daily.

Excerpts:

First Test you went with Wriddhiman Saha. Was he considered a safer option with the pink ball?

Woof... I think the first Test, we had multiple reasons. We thought Rishabh was still not ready yet and he needed to do some work with regards to his keeping and fitness. That is why we wanted to go with an experienced man in Saha. It was a tough Test and we wanted a reliable wicketkeeper. Saha had played well in the red-ball practice game. So that was a decision taken by the think-tank and soon we realised that we needed a left-hander.

Pant's fitness was an issue before the tour began. Did it concern the team management as well?

Definitely. But during the 14-day quarantine, he really worked hard and lost around 6-7 kgs. Since he was not part of the white-ball squad, he got the time to work on his fitness and keeping as well. But one thing we must all understand with Pant is whether you want the package or not. He is a package, who will come and smash the bowling, he will sledge from behind and enjoy his game. He may drop the odd catch. But if you look at his keeping against fast bowlers, you can't find fault. Even in Brisbane, he took some lovely catches -- one down the leg-side off (Matthew) Wade and a jumping one against (Tim) Paine. Yes, against spinners he is a work in progress. That is the package. You can take it or leave it.

And he is still young...

He is 23 and keepers tend to get mature as they grow. Things will improve. As a fielding coach, the biggest positive I'm seeing is he has become more open to learning and improving. He listens a lot these days and wants to improve his keeping skills more than ever. There have been so many days on this tour where he says 'I don't want to bat, I only want to keep' and we have done keeping drills for one-and-a-half hours. It is a good sign and he is willing to take the extra mile. It will take time. Keeping is not an easy skill.

You mention about him losing weight, was he on diet?

He was very disciplined throughout the tour. He did a lot of running and was very cautious about his diet. Very particular about what he had. His calorie intake was lesser than calorie output and all that. He did it well and got ready.

Moving to Melbourne, you wanted a left-hander, but he had not played any matches before. Was he under pressure?

I don't know if Pant feels any pressure. He is always the kind of guy who will take things as it comes. He was nervous initially, like any cricketer. He is quite tough mentally.

At Sydney, he was promoted to go for the target. Was it instant or was he told beforehand?

It was a very well thought out move from Ajinkya (Rahane), Ravi bhai (Shastri) and Vikram (Rathour). They came up with that and we were clear he should get to face as many overs as possible before the second new ball. By the time the second new ball was taken, he was well set like in Brisbane. We have always been flexible with the batting factoring the left-right combination.

You have England coming up. Is Pant ready for home run?

We have to get him ready. After his exploits in Brisbane and Sydney, he is a sure shot. The whole world will be looking at him.

In terms of keeping at home?

It is no doubt going to be challenging for him. Make no mistake, India is one of the most difficult places to keep wickets. In England, it is difficult to keep against seamers and that is the same here when spinners are operating. He is going to work hard. But people have to be realistic as well. He is not going to become a marvel overnight. People have to be realistic. One thing for sure is he will give his 100 per cent. The boy has matured a lot in the last 12 months and this series is a big lesson for him. There are a lot of positives for him.

How frustrating was the drop catches?

I felt very bad. Going into the second and third Test, we did a lot of fielding drills. But if you see the whole series, both teams had so many dropped catches.

What was the reason?

There are multiple factors. It could be because none of the guys had played cricket for a long time. So that ability to raise your concentration for a longer period of time will be tough. And when you start training after such a long break, cricketers tend to focus more on the primary skill which is batting or bowling. Fielding won't be in the mind. They will be visualising about batting and bowling and even a lot of time on improving their fitness, so fielding takes a back seat and maybe it was not on the priority list until you made an error. There were also good catches and good saves. If any fielder has taken three and drops one, you can't say, 'he dropped it'. We must cut them some slack. Not just to the Indian team, but overall. As long as they are following the process, I'm okay with it.

Can you break down how it was in the series?

Despite these drops, we had a conversion rate of 81 per cent for the series. We took 43 catches and dropped nine. And I'm leaving out the half-chances. We dropped three easy catches in Adelaide. In Melbourne, we had a good game as a fielding side. At Sydney, we were good for the large part of first innings. Second innings, we put down a couple. In Brisbane, with multi-coloured seats, it can be difficult to spot the ball. That is what happened with Rahane. 

[express bowling]

Good !

[prudent_kreeda]

To hum ye samjhe ki lock kiya hai !

[ShoonyaSifar]

They said similar things after Pant's 159* at Sydney. We know what happened after that. Will they back him and not question his attitude and work ethic after he drops a couple of chances or gets out cheaply trying to be aggressive?

[Lone Wolf]

Let's see how they back him.  We've seen this before..  Kuldeep is our no 1 spinner after Sydney. 

Once he drops a couple vs Eng..  Saha will be back (, lolli logic) 

[Adamant]

3 hours ago, ShoonyaSifar said:

They said similar things after Pant's 159* at Sydney. We know what happened after that. Will they back him and not question his attitude and work ethic after he drops a couple of chances or gets out cheaply trying to be aggressive?

Some fickle fans on this forum were rooting for saha to replace him after he dropped two chances in sydney. 

 

The amount of criticism and abuse this guy has dealed with is just outrageous. 

Was probably one of the most hated youngster before this series. 

 

Now he deserves a run in home conditions. 

I think he can take his avg upto 47 48 if he starts playing in home conditions too. 

The sydney knock in 2018 was great but these two knocks are way better and there's absolutely no chance that anyone will forget it. He should be a regular in all formats now. 

Serious talent

[Adamant]

2 hours ago, Lone Wolf said:

Let's see how they back him.  We've seen this before..  Kuldeep is our no 1 spinner after Sydney. 

Once he drops a couple vs Eng..  Saha will be back (, lolli logic) 

TBF kuldeep was totally out of form in since then

[vvvslaxman]

There won't be "Saha" confusion anymore which is good. He will feel more confident now.  He is going to be the main keeper for a very long time.

[R!TTER]

1 minute ago, vvvslaxman said:

There won't be "Saha" confusion anymore which is good. He will feel more confident now. 

Words vs action - I'm guess Kohli doesn't go MC, BC, BBC anymore after his child's birth? Point being this (series) might have a good positive change on Kohli, but I'm not holding my breath 

[vvvslaxman]

1 minute ago, R!TTER said:

Words vs action - I'm guess Kohli doesn't go MC, BC, BBC anymore after his child's birth? Point being this (series) might have a good positive change on Kohli, but I'm not holding my breath 

 

Not only that, Rahane has won 2 tests with B string team. His position is not as indispensable as he used to think before. I am not even sure if India would have won with Kohli. Kohli flunked in quiet a few 4th innings when runs were needed. 

[BacktoCricaddict]

These are all tough decisions.  It is clear that they are being taken after due deliberation.  We only see the final decision and then make comments like "not backing him, mishandling him"  etc.  But sometimes it is a 50.5 - 49.5 split in their minds after weighing (no pun intended) all factors.  We just don't hear those conversations.  After this series and everything that has been revealed, may be this TM deserves more slack from the fans. 

[Samcric]

Pant has some severe technical flaws in keeping. Gets up too quickly, gets wrong-footed against pacers some time due to moving too early and for some reason, his right glove seems to be closed too early and fingers are not pointed downwards. I can understand lack of reflexes or not being fast enough. But I really hope he can correct some of these basic technical aspects.

[ThirtyD.]

Are these articles from one interview or is this guy being interviewed every 5 minutes?

[coffee_rules]

Looks like R Ashwin gave an impetus to compatriot R Sridhar’s career, after India’s abysmal fielding standards , Banda bahut bolne laga hain, sasura.

[beetle]

So does it mean Sridhar is a sureshot!

[New guy]

13 hours ago, Samcric said:

Pant has some severe technical flaws in keeping. Gets up too quickly, gets wrong-footed against pacers some time due to moving too early and for some reason, his right glove seems to be closed too early and fingers are not pointed downwards. I can understand lack of reflexes or not being fast enough. But I really hope he can correct some of these basic technical aspects.

That wrong footed thing they showed was bullshit, the ball was coming in and any keepr would have gone with the angle. He has no problems against pacers 

 

Dhoni had way bigger problems against pace (and even spin too) at early stage if his career 

[New guy]

15 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

There won't be "Saha" confusion anymore which is good. He will feel more confident now.  He is going to be the main keeper for a very long time.

we know its kohli who will take the final decision and sridhar or shastris words will count for nothing once he is back 

[Samcric]

1 hour ago, New guy said:

That wrong footed thing they showed was bullshit, the ball was coming in and any keepr would have gone with the angle. He has no problems against pacers 

 

Dhoni had way bigger problems against pace (and even spin too) at early stage if his career 

 

To be honest, I didn't see him being wrong-footed much in the Australia series. It is more of a challenge where the ball swings late e.g. in England. I remember Pant dropped a couple of important catches (including one off Butler) where he moved too much too quickly and then the ball swung at the last moment and caught an outside egde. I agree that every keeper moves a bit inward with the incoming delivery, but the key is to not move so much that an edge becomes out of reach. Dhoni was terrible in England, so not much of a benchmark really.  

 

Larger point is that there are some basic technical flaws as a keeper (I used to be club-level keeper and I can say that these are basics). Having said this, I would rather persist with Pant and ensure that these basic things are taken care of. Against spinners, it really boils down to quick reflexes and I am ready to accept that Pant may never become a Saha-level keeper against spinners. As long as he can catch the "thin" edges and effect stumpings, I will be content. 

 

 

 

[Lone Wolf]

4 hours ago, New guy said:

we know its kohli who will take the final decision and sridhar or shastris words will count for nothing once he is back 

Sadly that's true..  Pant has already won India a game in Australia with his batting which Kohli hasn't done in his career.  It would take some ba** though to drop him. 

Pant scored 159 in Sydney in 2018 & RAT still dropped him at home though. 

[G_B_]

keeping in england with the swing seam slopes of grounds and wind is difficult.

 

Pant should defo start. But they need to work hard on his keeping game.