Sridharan Sriram joins Australia team as spin consultant for India tour

Sridharan Sriram, the former Indian One-Day International (ODI) player, has been appointed as a spin consultant for Australia’s upcoming daunting tour of India. The 40-year-old, who played eight ODIs from 2000-04, was part of Australia’s coaching set-up last year during the World T20 in India and the tour of Sri Lanka.

Sriram said he was excited to once again work with the Australian team. “As always, I consider it a great honour to be given the opportunity to work with the Australian men’s team once again,” he said on Tuesday (January 17).”I really look forward to adding value and contributing to a winning cause, against a quality opposition.

“India is regarded as one of the toughest places to tour as a Test playing nation and I am looking forward to the challenge,” he added.

Pat Howard, Cricket Australia high performance manager, said Sriram brought continuity in the role. “Sri has worked with us on a number of occasions now all across our pathway system and he is currently in Dubai with our Under-16 team providing his expertise on sub-continental conditions,” he said. “He knows our players very well and has a wealth of knowledge on the conditions that our players will face in India.”

Sriram will travel to Dubai on January 29 with some of the Australian squad members during the team’s training camp ahead of the Indian tour.

Meanwhile, Monty Panesar, the England left-arm spinner, has been roped in as the spin bowling consultant for the tour of India. Panesar, who had a successful 2012-13 tour of the country, picked up 17 wickets and played a crucial role in England’s series win.

According to a report on The Australian, Panesar will head to the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane to assist Steve O’Keefe, the left-arm spinner, in his preparations for the India tour. Matt Renshaw, who was recently cleared of concussion, will also be present.

“Having Monty come up is a nice way to kickstart the squad’s thinking about playing in India. We want the batsmen to be thinking about what the bowlers will be trying to do to them over there and Monty can engage them that way as well as with the bowlers,” Howard told The Australian.

“Phil Jaques will run the sessions with Matt, Monty and SOK, Phil has some nice ideas about how to challenge the batsmen. In Australia we love big turners, but the successful bowlers like [Rangana] Herath and [Ravi] Ashwin are more likely to get you lbw or bowled than any other way, their accuracy and their length is absolutely outstanding,” Howard said.