Former India left-arm spinner Sridharan Sriram returned as the new technical consultant of the Bangladesh Cricket Team on Thursday ahead of the ODI World Cup 2023. As reported by ESPNcricinfo, Sriram will join the Bangladesh team in Guwahati on September 27 when the team will be making preparations for their two warm-up matches before the start of the upcoming ODI World Cup. According to the BCB's cricket operations chairman Jalal Yunus, the former India spinner will give critical knowledge about Indian conditions to Khaled Mahmud, who joined as the team director this month.
Yunus added that the new technical consultant will give information regarding India's weather and pitch conditions to players since most of the Bangladeshi players have not played in India. Yunus believes that Sriram's input to the team will be very important.
"Sriram has joined as the technical consultant. We will get a lot of technical support from him," Yunus said. "He knows all the wickets in India. He can tell us about the weather conditions too. Very few of our players have played in India, so his input will be quite important," Yunus said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
Earlier in 2022 Sriram played the role of the technical consultant for Bangladesh cricket and was also the head coach of the team in the T20Is. Before opting for the role in 2022, he was Australia's spin-bowling coach for six years.
He took Bangladesh to the T20 World Cup in Australia, in which the team won two games and was in contention for a semi-final spot untill their last group game.
Sriram also recently joined as the assistant coach of the IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants, so it is likely that his time with the Bangladesh team will again be limited to a World Cup.
In the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023, Bangladesh will lock horns against Afghanistan in their tournament opener on October 7 at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium.