It was a Test match against England in Chennai during Ravi Shastri‘s days at the helm of Indian cricket team as its head coach. As Rishabh Pant continued hitting Jack Leach over the top, Shastri came up with an out-of-the-box advice for the Indian wicketkeeper-batsman. Offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin happened to overhear some of that conversation, but got a chance to pick Shastri’s brain only years later in the latest episode of his show on his YouTube channel.
The video clip of this particular segment from the show is doing the rounds on social media, where Ashwin says: “I still remember this conversation you had with Rishabh in Chennai when we were playing the Test.
“He (Pant) is a very unique character, unique guy, he’s very special. He kept tonking (England spinner) Jack Leach over the top. You were having a chat with him the next day and you said ‘arre yar chhotu, idhar mat maar na yaar, reverse sweep maar’ (don’t hit there, play the reverse sweep).”
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The video clip of this particular segment from the show is doing the rounds on social media, where Ashwin says: “I still remember this conversation you had with Rishabh in Chennai when we were playing the Test.
“He (Pant) is a very unique character, unique guy, he’s very special. He kept tonking (England spinner) Jack Leach over the top. You were having a chat with him the next day and you said ‘arre yar chhotu, idhar mat maar na yaar, reverse sweep maar’ (don’t hit there, play the reverse sweep).”
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Ashwin said the unconventional advice from the coach had surprised him then, and the veteran spinner didn’t miss the chance to ask Shastri what made him say that to Pant.
“I was like, Ravi bhai has never said that. You will probably come to us and say ‘grind it out’ and all that. Then what prompted you to say that? Is it understanding of a certain character?” asked Ashwin.
Shastri replied: “Absolutely! Because I knew if I tell him don’t play it (the shot), that’s against his nature (and) he might play it even more.”
