Meet R. Sridhar and Vikram Rathour, the two former India coaches who helped send Australia crashing out of the ICC T20 World Cup
The Kangaroos’ qualification hopes were hanging by a thread as they needed both Sri Lanka and Ireland to beat Zimbabwe to keep alive their slim chances of reaching the Super 8 stage.
However, Australia’s fate was decided when the Ireland-Zimbabwe match played on 17 February was canceled due to rain. The abandoned match earned Zimbabwe a point, increasing their points to five. Meanwhile, Australia have just one game left against Oman and even if they win, their total will only reach four points; This leaves them five points behind Zimbabwe.
Australia suffered two significant defeats in the group stage, first against Sri Lanka and then a shocking defeat against Zimbabwe, results that cost them a place in the next round.
Interestingly, Sri Lanka’s coaching staff includes two former Team India coaches (batting coach Vikram Rathour and fielding coach R. Sridhar), both of whom played a key role in strengthening the team.
Highlighting their contribution, Sri Lanka coach Sanath Jayasuriya praised the duo and said: “R Sridhar is our fielding coach, he is from India and Vikram Rathour is also our batting coach. Both of them are really good gentlemen. They are doing everything we want to do in training, which is really good for the fielding. With his IPL experience, he works really well with the players and performs well. We have given a lot of confidence to the batsmen. Sometimes as coaches we can despair about the batting unit but still we have given confidence to the players. Vikram and Sridhar have been really good.”
Who is Vikram Rathour?
Vikram Rathour was appointed as India’s batting coach in 2019. The Punjab-born cricketer represented India in six Tests and seven ODIs between 1996 and 1997. Although his international career was short, Rathour had an impressive domestic career in first-class cricket, scoring 1473 runs at an average of 49.66.
He averaged 13.10 in Tests and his highest score came with 44 at The Wanderers in South Africa. He averaged 27.57 in ODIs and scored two half-centuries. Rathour, a right-handed opening batsman, retired from cricket in 2003. He later spent a few years in England before returning to India to coach Punjab. He also served as national selector from 2012 to 2016 and coached Himachal Pradesh in domestic cricket.
All about R. Sridhar
Ramakrishnan Sridhar is a former India fielding coach who served with the national team under head coach Ravi Shastri from 2014 to 2021.
He previously worked at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and also gained coaching experience in the Indian Premier League (IPL), helping him develop a strong expertise in player development and modern fielding techniques.
During his seven-year tenure, India made significant improvements in fielding standards across all formats; Sridhar is widely credited for transforming the team into one of the best fielding units in world cricket.
He later joined the Afghanistan national team as an assistant coach and continued his international coaching career.
