Ramesh Powar Joins Australian Under-19 as Spin Consultant

Ramesh Powar has slipped back into an old role, but on a new stage.

The former India and Mumbai off-spinner is spending a short stint with the Australian Under-19 side in Rajkot, drafted in as a specialist spin coach for their tour of India. For four days, at the Niranjan Shah Stadium nets, the visitors’ young tweakers have a man steeped in subcontinental craft guiding them through the grind.

On Sunday, Powar was a constant presence at Australia’s junior training session, cutting a familiar figure as he worked closely with the spinners, tweaking grips, angles and fields between spells. It is not a random collaboration. It has been months in the making.

“Cricket Australia had approached me quite a few months back to come and spend some time with their young spinners and guide them,” Powar said from Rajkot.

He has been down this road with them before. In June 2018, he travelled to Brisbane on CA’s invitation to work with Australia’s Under-23 spinners at the Centre of Excellence. That earlier stint clearly left an impression.

“They have an idea of how I can help their young spinners. Since this was a prior commitment, I decided to spend four days with them,” he explained.

Powar joined the Australian Under-19 squad on Saturday and will remain with the group through to their final Youth ODI against India on Wednesday. The three-match Under-19 one-day series began on Friday, when India edged the opener by seven runs. The second game is scheduled for Monday, the decider for Wednesday, with Powar embedded in the Australian camp throughout that period.

While he fine-tunes Australia’s next generation this week, his own future sits in an important queue back home.

Powar has applied for the junior selector’s post with the BCCI, a role that would plug him directly into India’s talent pipeline. The Board has yet to hold interviews. After the BCCI’s AGM on Friday, secretary Devajit Saikia confirmed that candidates are being shortlisted, with the Cricket Advisory Committee set to conduct interviews and wrap up the process over the next 15 days.

It is another potential chapter in a coaching and mentoring career that has gathered real breadth. A former head coach of the India women’s team, Powar has just completed a three-season spell in charge of Gujarat. Before that, he steered Mumbai to the Vijay Hazare Trophy title in March 2021, a triumph that underlined his credentials in the domestic game.

For now, though, his focus is on a different badge and a different dressing room. In Rajkot, an Indian off-spinner is helping Australian teenagers decode Indian conditions, one net session at a time. Whether his next assignment is in a BCCI selection meeting room or another overseas consultancy, Powar’s influence on the next wave of cricketers is only widening.