R Sridhar recalls an incident when Ravi Shastri was furious MS Dhoni’s batting approach

Former Indian fielding coach R Sridhar recalls an incident in his book ‘Coaching Beyond: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team’ where the former Indian coach Ravi Shastri was infuriated with former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for his batting approach.
Recalling the second ODI between England and India at Lords in 2018, Sridhar mentioned the game whilst India were chasing a mammoth total of 323 runs courtesy of a brilliant Joe Root ton. India were 60-3 in the chase when Suresh Raina joins then-skipper Virat Kohli, Sridhar wrote, “We were in the hunt when Virat and Suresh Raina were batting, but as we lost wickets”.

A peek into Ravi Shastri’s approach as a coach.Didn’t even spare MS!
Excerpts from the book ‘Coaching Beyond’#CricketTwitter #Cricket pic.twitter.com/JPnBn3sdpb
— CaptainPLCC (@captain_plcc) January 12, 2023
After building a partnership of 80 runs Kohli fell and Raina too followed him. MS Dhoni was running out of partners. “MS was left with only the bowlers for a company going into the last 10 overs. Uncharacterically, he shut shop, and even though our required rate in the last 10 was nearly 13 an over, we only managed some 20 runs in the next six overs. That was the innings when MS got to 10,000 ODI runs- a very significant milestone. We were all thrilled for him, but we also wanted to know why he hadn’t made even a token attempt at the target,” Sridhar wrote.
MS Dhoni scored 37 runs from 59 balls with just two boundaries letting the run rate go up.
Sridhar recalled how Shastri in the dressing room was fuming over Dhoni’s approach, “Ravi, meanwhile, was seething. He was furious not because we lost 86 runs, but how we lost the game, how we went down without putting up a fight. We didn’t go for the target, we didn’t go down throwing a punch, we just went down tamely The head coach wasn’t going to let that one sail harmlessly .”

Sridhar then wrote about the team meeting held in the aftermath of the game, “The decider was in Headingley, and we had a team meeting the previous day. The entire squad 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 as he said, ‘No matter who you may be, there should not be another occasion when we lose a match not trying to win it. It will not happen under my watch. And if anyone does it, that will be the last bloody game of cricket they will play under my watch. You can lose a cricket game, no shame in that, but you will not lose like this.”
“MS was sitting right there in the front, and while Ravi’s words were meant for the team, his eyes were trained on MS. To the former skipper’s great credit, he didn’t flinch, he never broke eye contact with Ravi. He didn’t look here and there or fidget because one of his many admirable qualities is his ability to take the knocks, especially when he knows in his heart of hearts that he deserves them,” he added.

India in Headinlgy lost the game eight-wicket handing over the three-match ODI series 2-1 to England.