Inside Team Room: Wear that 36 all out like a badge, R Sridhar recalls 'Raviship' and more

He aged 10 years in about one hour thanks to Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar Team Indias longserving fielding coach R Sridhar was in the thick of things as the side battled adversity after adversity before their unreal Test series win over a mighty Australia And in an exclusive conversation with PTI he opened up about the emotional rollercoaster that the tour wasWhen Rishabh and Washy Washington Sundar were batting I wasnt able to cope up with tension Sridhar said after reaching his home in Hyderabad still trying to calm the nerves after that surreal final day in BrisbaneMy heart rate was 120 on fitness app and couldnt help telling Rohit that main ek ghante mein 10 saal buddha ho gaya he jokedAn integral part of the Indian team setup Sridhar opened about the tour in an elaborate chat asserting it will be difficult to surpass what the team went through in the past one month from hitting the nadir to reaching the zenithHe touched upon the many highlights of the intense trip from coach Ravi Shastris inspiring speech after the 36 allout disaster in Adelaide to Hanuma Viharis miracle batting at Sydney to the stunner in Brisbane36 all out and the aftermathAfter 36 allout you didnt know whats next Then Ravi Shastri bhai gathered the team and said Wear this 36 like a badge on your sleeves and you will be a great teamAfter 40 days it was gospel truth Also we had five meetings in two days after the Adelaide Test finished on the third evening Virat Kohli Jinks Ajinkya Rahane and the coaching staff discussed combination and Virat gave some lovely suggestions for the MCG Test before leavingI dont think there could have been a better execution in Melbourne he recalled the events leading up to the turnaround in Melbourne where India won to draw levelHanuma Vihari and the Sydney HeistAt tea time in Sydney Vihari had his feet stretched wide as Nitin Patel strapped his hamstring and other physio administered painkillers I went up to him and told Vihari You owe the next two hours to your team as this team has backed you at every junctureand after those 250 balls when he came back he could barely walk he fell down on the chair as I went to hug him He said Sir you asked for it This is the best I could do in this situation I could just mutter thank youSridhar said Viharis fitness took a hit as he wasnt a part of the IPL like most other Indian players last yearHis hamstring injury is multifactorial Firstly he wasnt playing IPL like others so general fitness level was a bit less than other guys which I told him and then he stood at short leg for three Tests which also contributed to injury But what he did in Sydney gave us belief that we could do it in BrisbaneVihari is an intense young man He is not your normal jovial kind of a guy He can go into a shell very soon and thats his strength also and it helped him in SydneyDespite being on heavy dose of painkillers which could make you a bit drowsy he actually pulled off a miracle in Sydney So when we got there in Brisbane we had the belief that we could do itThe Brisbane Chase on final dayWe didnt want to complicate anything with Rishabh and Washy and it was their own plan They had very valid excellent plan which was based on their abilities and beliefWhen you see what they were executing the last thing you want to do is send in information and at such times less is more Ajinkya and Ravi bhai said Just leave these two alone Whatever happens we would take it we came so far brilliantlyT Natarajan didnt carry his bat or pads to the tourYou know Nattu didnt carry a bat He had his bowling spikes and trainers because he came as a net bowler and was supposed to bowl He had to borrow one from either Washy or Ash R Ashwin when he was named in the squadBut that was the beauty He was not any usual net bowler Strength and Conditioning coach Nick Webb and trainer Soham Desai had proper strength and conditioning plan for all our net bowlers and they were an integral part of dressing roomTalent called WashingtonWe kept him here after white ball games because we didnt want Ash to bowl too much at the nets but Nathan Lyon was always going to be an integral part of the Aussie lineup so we needed our batsmen to get net sessionsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever