February 24 would be marked as a doomsday in the history of cricket for the Indian team after they lost the first game of the 4-match tests series against Australia within no time. The 5-day game was shrunk into a 3-day affair and the India scalps fell soo quick that the made score keepers restless. All credits went to the Aussie spin department and especially to Steve O’Keefe who didn’t allow any of the Indian batsmen to spend much time at the crease.
The entire world applauded for O’Keefe for his remarkable spell worth 12 wickets but nobody had thought that what was the actual power which made him a superhuman to destroy the No 1 team in tests? The answer is, it’s an Indian himself. The newly appointed spin consultant of the Australian team, Sridharan Sriram.
The man who nurtured the Aussie spin attack and took India towards the downfall. 41-year-old Sriram played in the Indian team for the year 2004-05 and have taken a total of 9 wickets in 8 ODIs but spent 18 long years in domestic cricket. He didn’t do any heroic being in the national side but his skills were sensed by the Cricket Australia and his 18-year first-class career helped the Kangaroos to unlock the secrets of thriving on the subcontinent.
Though nobody gave any credit to this Indian brain for the success achieved by the Australians after 9 years on the Indian soil but O’Keefe did. After second day’s play, O’Keefe revealed that how Sriram helped him during the lunch break and finally he came up with flying colours and played a key role in wrapping the Indian inning within 38 minutes.
He stated that he was a bit disappointed as he didn’t leak runs but didn’t take wickets as well. Thus he spent some time with team’s spin consultant Sridharan Sriram at the lunch break and next when was given the ball, he came in like a wrecking ball and uprooted Indian batting line-up and threw them back to the dressing room. He finished with 6 for 35 from 13.1 overs.
Copyright © 2024 IE Online Media Services Private Ltd. All Rights Reserved.