Making a mark in the Kiwi land
At Wellington, Sriram played a key role in developing Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra transforming them into international cricketers and now at Northern Districts, he is working with the Who's Who of NZ cricket
While the TNCA have not explored his services over the last decade, he is back in Madras this month for a short stint with Madurai Panthers in the TNPL
At the start of the previous decade, Sriram Krishnamurthy, who had played for Grand Slam (India Cements) in the TNCA league, was trying to explore a career in cricket coaching. After his degree, he worked at a BPO but could not take his mind away from cricket. He did not make much headway as a player but believed he had the ability to translate his cricket knowledge into making other players understand themselves better and to convert that understanding into performance on the field. While he did not get any opportunities in TN/TNCA, he found surprising interest coming in from Australia. For a couple of years, he coached teams at the state level in Victoria and South Australia. However, it had not been a full time -through the year - contractual engagement and visa restrictions meant he had to return to India for 3-4 months in each of those two years. When he was touching 30, his appa (who passed away in 2020) was keen for him to freeze on a career and settle down in life.
It was then that Sriram explored the possibility of coaching in nearby New Zealand, where the easier visa conditions meant he could coach through the year for multiple seasons. A mate at Cricket Victoria (Australia) put him on to Dave Gillespie, President, Taita Distrct CC, an eight decades old club in Wellington.
Exploring cricket coaching in the UK
That English Summer in 2015, Sriram went back to the UK for a 6 week stint with Derbyshire in the T20 blast. 7 years prior, in 2008, he had played for Cornwell Cricket Club, a minor county in the UK following which he had done his Masters in HRD (Human Resource Development) from the Lancaster University in Manchester. It was during his stint in Manchester that he got initiated into Coaching. His Masters degree had a paper on Knowledge Management and Sriram wanted to explore if this concept could be implemented in the sports field. In 2010, on the invitation of The English and Wales Cricket Board, Sriram was involved in a High Performance Coaching related work ahead of the 2010-11 Ashes where he conducted Coaching Workshop for coaches including lecture sessions for those coaches who were to be handling the English team in the Ashes that summer that year.
While England was one of the options for him to explore in 2015, the visa restrictions there that were similar to the ones in Australia meant he could not fulfil his appa's wish of 'settling down'.
Moves to Wellington, New Zealand
And thus in August 2015, he moved to Wellington to coach the U19 team. While there was still half a mind to coach in his home land in Chennai about which he had always been passionate about, opportunities were not forthcoming. With a new family in the offing, he was keen to be full time in one country.
For those with exceptional talent, there was an option to get through into NZ with a 'Talent Visa'. Dave (Gillespie) felt that Sriram was well qualified for this visa given his credentials at that time.
Identified by the Kiwi Board as one of the key coaches
Having started out as a U19 coach at Cricket Wellington in 2015, by 2020 he had become the batting coach of the Wellington Firebirds, one of the six first class teams in the country. During the period, he was identified by NZ cricket as one of the dozen coaches to take forward NZ cricket. And with that identity came big opportunities for Sriram. He was part of three tours with NZ A as well as a prestigious tour with the U19 team at the World Cup. When Bangladesh toured NZ, he was appointed as the coach of the NZ XI that played a tour match ahead of the international series.
Develops Conway, Ravindra and Blundell
At Wellington, Sriram had begun to work with Conway, Blundell and teenager Ravindra. It was he who insisted on Ravindra’s selection for the U19 world cup when he was just 16years old. Sriram is credited with developing them from state cricketers to now playing for the Black Caps.
Each of these have given Sriram a wide ranging and varied experience.
Sriram is grateful with the way Wellington treated him in that phase “When I landed in New Zealand in 2015, full time coaching roles were very limited. While Cricket Wellington offered me a contract, it was not enough to lead a comfortable life, financially. They pointed me to Taita CC as an additional engagement that served me well and kept me going in those initial years."
"Kiwis are a very helpful lot and kind in nature. Dave (Gillespie) immediately got my wife a job soon after her arrival in New Zealand. And that made a big difference to our lives.”
His close association with Graeme Aldrich
When Sriram got an opportunity to attend the annual high performance workshop in the winter of 2016, he had a chance meeting with Northern Districts' great Graeme Aldrich. Sriram immediately hit it off with Graeme, one of the most well respected first class cricketers in NZ and one with the record for the highest number of wickets for Northern Districts.
The two of them did level 3 coaching and went to the U19 world together – Graeme as the bowling coach and Sriram coaching the batters.
Moves to Northern Districts
After five years in Wellington, Sriram moved to Northern Districts in 2020 to work alongside Graeme. In the last couple of years, he has handled the likes of Kane, Southee, Boult, Sodhi, Wagner, De Grandhomme and Santner at Northern Districts. It has been one of his most enjoyable experiences to work with the greats of Kiwi cricket.
What has amazed him has been their openness to learn and the mindset to absorb new and interesting cricketing aspects.
As he looks back at the 7 years in NZ, he is delighted at the way the board has taken care of him and is keen to show his loyalty to them for the trust they have placed in him during this period.
It has also been a great experience for him in these 7 years - first to be working with state players and helping them make their way into the national team and now to be working so closely with top international players and the Who's Who of Kiwi cricket. Right from the start, his differentiated model has been to understand the personality behind the cricketer, be relatable to them by speaking their language and engaging in long conversations with each of them to help them gain confidence in their inherent strengths.
At the TNPL this month
Well over a decade ago, he had played alongside KB Arun Karthik in the city league in Chennai. His old mate reached out to him in 2018 to explore coaching the Madurai team in the TNPL. Sriram is currently in the city for his second stint in the TNPL coaching Damodaran backed Madurai Panthers. Seven players in the team are currently involved in the 1st division league final taking place today. Over the last fortnight, he has had individual sessions with cricketers in the TNPL team trying to help them build on their strengths.
While he is currently well settled in the Kiwi Land, his heart has always been in Madras and he continues to hope that someday in his life he would return to Chepauk to coach cricketers in his home town.