Ramakrishnan Sridhar, best known for his seven-year stint with India, will guide Sri Lanka’s fielding unit through to the men’s T20 World Cup scheduled for 7 February-8 March next year. The 53-year-old, a Level-3 BCCI coach, signed off on Wednesday and starts work immediately.
“Sri Lankan players have always stood for instinctive brilliance, resilience, and collective spirit,” Sridhar said once the paperwork was done. “My role is not to impose a system, but to nurture an environment where athleticism, awareness, and pride in the field can grow naturally.” He added that “Sri Lanka’s traditional strengths–quick hands, sharp reflexes, and fearless intent, can be further enhanced by creating realistic, game-like learning environments.”
The former left-arm spinner oversaw India’s out-field from 2014 to 2021, a period that coincided with a noticeable lift in direct-hit run-outs and catching percentage. Last May he ran a low-key, ten-day fielding camp in Colombo; several players from that group are now regulars in the national set-up, a link that made him an obvious candidate once the vacancy opened.
Sri Lanka Cricket has been tweaking its back-room staff since October, when Julian Wood (batting) and René Ferdinands (spin) were added. Results have been mixed. A flat Asia Cup and a scrappy tour of Pakistan drew attention to basic errors, especially in the deep. Fielding, insiders felt, was costing matches as much as mis-firing top orders.
Sridhar will join the squad ahead of home series against Pakistan and England early in the new year, fixtures viewed internally as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup in Australia. The brief, according to a short SLC statement, is clear: tighten angles in the ring, sharpen relay throws, and restore the confidence that once made Sri Lanka nimble and awkward to score against.
Whether six months is long enough to embed new habits remains open to debate. Yet players who have worked with Sridhar talk about honest feedback and simple drills that replicate match pressure. If that translates to fewer spilled chances and quicker boundary saves, Sri Lanka’s World Cup campaign may already look healthier.
