Former India player Sridharan Sriram is associated with the Australian team for quite some time now. He was roped in by the Aussies during the last year’s tour of Sri Lanka where they were whitewashed 3-0. He was also part of the backroom in the World Twenty20 2016 in India. In 2015, he had worked with Australia A during their tour of India.
He was primarily appointed as the spin consultant to share his expertise on the subcontinental conditions but it is safe to say that success eluded him until the Pune Test where the Aussie spinners wreaked havoc on the Indian batsmen to help Australia win the series opener by a massive 333 runs. Australia’s spin duo of Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe shared 17 of the 20 Indian wickets among them- O’Keefe took 12 while Lyon had the remaining 5 wickets, as the visitors finished the match inside 3 days.
Speaking after the win in Pune, the former player, who played eight ODIs for India between 2000 and 2004, said that he was now looking to share his knowledge of the subcontinent with the Aussie players.
As quoted in The New Indian Express, Sriram said:“I started as a left-arm spinner, played India U-19 as a left-arm spinner, and I know how it feels to fail as a spinner as well. That’s really more important than to know what you did to succeed. I’ve discussed spin with the biggest names in India, played against some of them. Coach or consultant, my job now is to share the knowledge.”
When asked about the reason behind O’Keefe and Lyon’s remarkable show, Sriram said:“I’d use the word adapt. Because India is such a big country, you have to adapt on the go. You got to see what works for you on that day. That’s where O’Keefe scored. He is prepared to experiment, which goes back to 2015 (A tour). He knew that he had to come with an open mind. What works on Day 1 may not work on Day 3. That’s his biggest strength.”
A prolific run-scorer in the domestic circuit during his playing career, Sriram also said that he was also helping the batsmen to get a good knowledge of the subcontinental pitches.
“I have a chat with everyone. It’s not just the spinners. That’s the freedom I get from my head coach (Darren Lehmann) which is amazing. I can chat with anyone if I feel there’s something they should do. I go up to them and suggest and it’s up to them if they implement it. Some say ‘no’, some say ‘yes’. They have come to this level because they have done something right in their career. It’s not about bombarding them with information. It’s about speaking at the right time, seeing what space they are in with their mental state,” said the former Tamil Nadu player who scored over 9,000 first-class runs.
With their last Test win in India coming way back in 2004, the visitors had left no stone unturned to prepare for the tough tour. Apart from roping in Sriram and former England spinner Monty Panesar as spin consultants, they had attended a training camp at the ICC academy in Dubai before arriving in India. And Sriram said that the players deserved the win for their hard work.
“You prepare for the worst. Then if you get the best, you go for it. I think the preparation in Dubai was excellent. We prepared different tracks. We made a rough. We made rank turners. We made slow and low pitches. I think it was great in terms of trying out different surfaces and being prepared for whatever you get. I’m happy for the spinners. They deserved it for the work they have put in,” he said.