CHENNAI: Visiting teams often hire local specialists to benefit from their expertise in specific departments. Australians are not new to it. Former India and Tamil Nadu all-rounder Sridharan Sriram has been with their team for a while now, as spin consultant. Not just in India, he has worked with the Australians in other places in Asia as well, more recently in Bangladesh, where they drew the Test series after losing the opener. It shows that they find his knowledge and experience valuable.
In a continuation of such thinking, the Aussies had Tamil Nadu’s Murugan Ashwin bowling at them in the nets at Chepauk on Thursday. Local bowlers do bowl when visiting teams practise, but the Tamil Nadu leg-spinner was there on special invitation. The Aussies wanted him to prepare for Yuzvendra Chahal and other Indian spinners. Sources said that Ashwin, who has played in the IPL, was there on a request from the Australian team.
Strange it may seem that despite Adam Zampa in their ranks, Australians chose to have Ashwin. Sources said they wanted Ashwin as he was a bit quicker than Zampa. Plus, his style of bowling was similar to the spinners in the Indian team.
“If you see the Indian spinners, Axar Patel and Chahal, they are a bit quick. They are not conventional spinners who rely more on flight, like Amit Mishra. Ashwin is a bit quick, with quite a lot of variations, so they wanted him to bowl at the nets. Plus, Smith too was impressed with the leggie when he was with Rising Pune Supergiants in the IPL,’’ a well placed source told Express.
Ashwin, who has also played for South Zone, bowled almost the entire session, which lasted close to two hours. Australia leg-spinner Zampa was also around, but didn’t bowl as many deliveries as Ashwin. He bowled to several batsmen, Marcus Stoinis and Matthew Wade being among them. “I have played with Smith in the past, in the IPL. It was nice to catch up with him and bowl to the Australian team. Nothing special. I just bowled my normal stuff,’’ said Ashwin.
It can be assumed that Sriram might have had his inputs in getting Ashwin on board. “Sriram has been really good. He has great knowledge about how to play in these conditions. He has helped the players, particularly the spin bowlers. He has great knowledge of the grounds in India. He has been really good for this group,” captain Smith had said upon his arrival Chennai.ashok.v@newindianexpress.com