Building trust with Rishabh Pant was a challenging journey: Former India fielding coach R Sridhar

A year after the 2016 Under19 World Cup, Pant emerged as a unique and daring talent in Indian cricket. His flamboyant and bold approach was a stark contrast to traditional styles seen in the game. While Pant's unorthodox methods were effective, there was room for improvement, especially in his wicketkeeping skills. Adapting and refining Pant's techniques was essential for his development, but it was a challenging task considering his established style and mindset as a young player.

"It's a simple coaching philosophy. If they don't learn the way you coach, coach the way they learn. A lot of times you say sometimes and think the job is done but if athletes are not picking it up, then you've not done your job. You've got to change your style and suit it according to the requirement of the athlete," Sridhar said on 'Anubhav Talks'.

"With Rishabh this was an example because he was a young kid, a teenager, 20 years old. Just come after the Under-19 World Cup. He made his debut, but you know it was difficult for me to connect with him initially. It was a challenge because he had his ways, so you let it be. It took some time for us to build that trust and for that I had to change my style of approach to coaching a little bit and understand where he is coming from, what he wanted."

Pant has a ballistic start with India in 2018, as he notched up a century in just his third Test and followed it up with another ton a few months later in Australia during the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In between, he scored a couple of 92 against West Indies too. But while his batting took off, Pant struggled with his keeping. It took time, mentioned Sridhar, as he had to fall back on a famous coaching principle, with the help of which he and Pant were able to develop a mutual understanding of each other's thought processes.

"There's another coaching theory. Give them what they want, till the time they take what you give. I started changing my style of coaching. Less is more and with an athlete like Rishabh, less is more. At that level, at a very elite level, more often than not, less is more, especially when it comes to the technical side of it. They know; there are geniuses, they are champions," he added.

"I had to course correct somewhere midway. I said no, with this boy, 'less' is the way to go about it. Then I made myself redundant and that is when the trick happened, and we connected. The next 18 months were great fun with such a wonderful, exuberant and energetic athlete. I am so happy that he is back and playing. It's a better version; he is wiser."