Ravi Shastri better equipped than Anil Kumble to deal with Virat Kohli and Co, hints fielding coach R Sridhar

The selection of the head coach of the Indian team has been shrouded in controversy since the public fall out between the former holder of the position Anil Kumble and captain Virat Kohli. The story took a different turn when Ravi Shastri recently revealed his intention of applying for the position, with the BCCI extending the deadline for the submission of applications from 31 May to 9 July, which caused a few applicants to voice their dissent against the decision. If India fielding coach R Sridhar’s latest comments are to be believed, then Shastri is the person better equipped to deal with the current Indian team than Kumble. [caption id=“attachment_3754801” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri reportedly share a great rapport. Reuters[/caption] In a report on Hindustan Times, Sridhar compared the working styles of both Shastri and Kumble, describing the former as someone whose method of working was “character-based”. “Shastri was somebody who was character-based. He wanted characters in the team, so he worked on that kind of approach. He wanted to take that approach to the field. Kumble was someone who wanted to achieve excellence in his own way,” the former Hyderabad left-arm spinner was quoted as saying in the report. Sridhar additionally said that the key to functioning with the current group was to “follow the energies” of Kohli and Co instead of trying to impose his beliefs on them, the failure of which has been widely reported as the key reason behind the fall out between the two headstrong individuals. “What is important in today’s cricket as a leader is to follow the energies within the group.You have to yield to the demands of the group and you have to make sure that each guy is in the best possible space,” said Sridhar, adding that the current Indian team had enough experience in their ranks to take decisions for themselves. Sridhar however, praised both individuals when it came to describing his relations with them. “As far as I am concerned, both of them gave me extreme freedom to work with. They never once asked me what I was doing or want me to do something specific,” said Sridhar in a report on The Indian Express.