After being appointed as the batting and spin bowling coach of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for the upcoming season of Indian Premier League (IPL), Sridharan Sriram said he is excited to work with Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in the IPL 12.
Apart from Sriram, former Team India trainer Shanker Basu has also returned to the RCB, as he has been named as the strength and conditioning coach of the franchise while Adam Griffith has been appointed the bowling coach of the side for the upcoming 2020 edition of the IPL.
Sriram told reporters, “Kohli is among the best batsman in the world, if not the best, and he leads India. It doesn’t get better than this. And RCB also has A.B. de Villiers, such a gifted player,”
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While RCB are yet to win the IPL crown and has seen struggle in recent seasons despite the prosperity of talent, and former India and Tamil Nadu cricketer, who recently helped Australia in combating spin in the successful Ashes 2019 campaign, attributed this to the over-dependency on Kohli and De Villiers for their tough time in the T20 event.
Sriram said, “It’s no rocket science. The batting is too dependent on Kohli and de Villiers. We need everyone to contribute and elements such as game awareness and rotation of strike will be crucial.”
Meanwhile, he also felt the RCB need to much focus on end-game skills and closing out tight matches, as well as the mental toughness, adding: “We need to work on a lot of things like why Umesh Yadav did not pick enough wickets with the new ball last season.”
On head coach Simon Katich, Sriram said: “He’s a friendly man, but a hard taskmaster.”
He also lauded RCB spinners for their good job at the Chinnaswamy Stadium despite its short boundaries. Sriram signed off by saying, “Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has a good record at this ground. The spinners have controlled the middle overs well here. And someone like Washington Sundar is smart, alters his pace well and has subtle variations.”
(With Sportstar Inputs)
