Ramesh Powar Guides Australia’s Young Spinners in Rajkot

In the dry winter sun of Rajkot, an unlikely figure has slipped into Australian colours. Ramesh Powar, the former India and Mumbai off-spinner, is spending four days with Australia’s Under-19 squad, sharpening the tools of their young spinners at the Niranjan Shah Stadium.

No fanfare, no big announcement. Just an Indian spin coach, a group of Australian teenagers, and a strip of practice wickets.

Powar joined the touring party on Saturday and will stay with them through to their final Youth ODI against India on Wednesday. He was deep in conversation and demonstration at the nets on Sunday, working closely with Australia’s young tweakers, offering the sort of detail that comes only from a career spent wrestling with flight, drift and subtle changes of pace.

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

They knew what they were getting. This is not a new collaboration. In June 2018, he was invited to Brisbane to work with Australia’s Under-23 spinners at CA’s Centre of Excellence, leaving enough of an impression for them to come back to him again.

“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 said.

The timing is neat. India and Australia’s Under-19 sides are locked in a three-match one-day series. India edged the opening game on Friday by seven runs. The next two fixtures are set for Monday and Wednesday, with Powar embedded in the Australian camp as they look to level and then tilt the series.

While he fine-tunes Australian spin in Rajkot, Powar’s own future in Indian cricket is in motion off the field. 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 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 to conduct interviews and wrap up the process over the next 15 days.

It underlines where Powar now sits in the game: a coach trusted with shaping the next wave, whether they wear blue or baggy green.

His coaching résumé has grown steadily. A former head coach of the India women’s team, he guided Mumbai to the Vijay Hazare Trophy title in March 2021, restoring a sense of steel to one of Indian domestic cricket’s most demanding dressing rooms. More recently, he spent the last three seasons as head coach of Gujarat, adding another layer of experience across formats and age groups.

So in Rajkot this week, as India’s Under-19s look to close out a home series and Australia’s youngsters search for answers, one of the most intriguing subplots is unfolding away from the television cameras. An Indian off-spinner, once a domestic stalwart, is quietly helping Australia’s next generation understand how to win in these conditions.

If his application with the BCCI is successful, some of the Indian teenagers he may soon help select could be bowling to these very Australians in a few years’ time. The question now is simple: whose spinners will learn faster?