JOIN USShreyas credits Lara for improved batting
Shreyas Gopal was hard-pressed to offer up one big coaching influence to his batting revival in the wake of his fifth first-class century on Wednesday. After a brief pause, he said: ‘Brian Lara.’
Having worked with the West Indian legend when donning the Sunrisers Hyderabad jersey in the last edition of the Indian Premier League, Shreyas claims he picked the SRH coach’s brain long enough for it to rub off on his own batting.
Shreyas has 283 from seven innings at an average of 47.15. Not bad for a No.6, not bad for a ‘frontline’ leg-spinner.
“Ten months or so ago, I spent so much time with Brian Lara,” said Shreyas after the day’s play. “So many hours were spent discussing batting and the nuance of it. I would always ask him about his mentality because after scoring a century (103 runs) I am this cooked, but he scored 400 and then wanted to score more. I wanted to learn to have that level of fitness and focus.”
Shreyas also revealed that he has spent many a night frothing over failures but has learnt to deal with them by confiding in close friends while masking his true emotions from the rest of the world.
“There are so many times I have wanted to scream and shout about how things are going, failing is not easy, but I have learnt how to identify what the source of the problem is and I tackle it properly,” he said.
“I don’t let it fester and build into something I would be resentful about. Also, it’s easier when you're out there in the middle playing.”