Ideally, it is not the way to go: Sridharan Sriram on two different teams for different tournaments

India are all set to feature in two limited overs series in Sri Lanka while their main squad is in England prepping for the Test series. Former India cricketer Sridharan Sriram, who is the batting and spin bowling coach at RCB, thinks that it may not be the ideal way to go but looks like a possibility in the near future.

“Ideally, it is not the way to go. You have to have one team playing at one point of time. Given the Covid complications, that could be a possibility in the near future. You want so many series to be completed as they got postponed. There is a lot at stake for a lot of the cricket boards. Once we get over the Covid era and everything comes back to normal, ideally you would want one team playing at a time,” Sriram told news18.com

Sriram, who is also a member of the support staff with the Australian team, shared his views on India’s victory in Australia.

“That victory for India will be spoken about for many years to come. It was a victory against all odds for India. They did not have their main players. To come out and win in Australia takes some doing and definitely credit to that Indian side for the way it performed in Australia. The Australian team had its chances that it let go of. From that point of view, it was disappointing to be on the losing side,” said Sriram.

India’s WTC campaign picked up after the series victory in Australia and they made it to the final of the event where they lost to New Zealand. While the post-mortem of the result may have thrown different reasons for the loss, Sriram’s logic seems the most humane.

“What the Indian team has gone through in the last 12 months is very tough. Even the Australian players, the way they went back from IPL, having to quarantine in Maldives and go to Australia and not to see the sunlight for the first 14 days is pretty tough. On the other hand, New Zealand were more fortunate because they did not have many Covid cases in their country. They have been free, playing outdoors, practicing, playing their domestic tournament, went to England and played two Test matches before the WTC final. Their preparation leading into the Test final was a lot more ideal. Having said that, that is not an excuse for India,” said the 45-year-old.