RAJKOT: Ramesh Powar has one eye on a BCCI role, but for four days in Rajkot his focus is entirely Australian.
The former India and Mumbai off-spinner has linked up with the Australia Under-19 squad as a short-term spin coach, working with their young tweakers at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in the middle of an intense Youth ODI series against India.
Powar joined the visitors on Saturday and will stay with them through to their final Youth ODI on Wednesday. He was a prominent figure at the junior side’s nets on Sunday, slipping into a familiar groove: side-on view, sharp corrections, quick demonstrations, and a steady stream of tactical advice for a group of teenagers trying to decode subcontinental conditions.
This is not a one-off experiment. Cricket Australia reached out to Powar months ago, inviting him to again work with their emerging spin talent. They know exactly what they are getting. In June 2018, he spent time at CA’s Centre of Excellence in Brisbane, guiding Australia’s under-23 spinners. That earlier stint clearly left a mark, strong enough for CA to return to him as their young bowlers prepared for a challenging tour of India.
“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, explaining that this four-day engagement was a prior commitment he chose to honour.
For Australia’s youngsters, it means access to a coach who has lived the grind of Indian domestic cricket and understands exactly what a white-ball game in these conditions demands from a spinner.
The timing is significant. The Under-19 One-day series between India and Australia began on Friday, with India edging the opening game by seven runs. Two more matches — on Monday and Wednesday — will decide the series, and Powar’s presence in the Australian camp drops a seasoned spin mind into the middle of that contest.
While he fine-tunes Australian spin plans on one side of the boundary rope, Powar’s own future could soon be shaped on the other. He has applied for the junior selector’s post with the BCCI, a role that would place him at the heart of India’s youth pathway. The Board has yet to hold interviews, but the process is moving. 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 appointment within the next 15 days.
Powar’s résumé is already thick with coaching experience. He served as head coach of the India women’s team, led Gujarat for the last three domestic seasons, and guided Mumbai to the Vijay Hazare Trophy title in March 2021. That mix of international exposure, domestic success, and prior work with Australian spinners makes his current assignment in Rajkot feel like a natural extension rather than an outlier.
For now, though, the BCCI file can wait. Under a hard Rajkot sun, with an Under-19 series in the balance, Ramesh Powar is back in his element — in the nets, at close range, shaping the next generation of spin from a country that has always prized it, even when the coach happens to be wearing a different shade of yellow and green.
