Former India Fielding Coach R Sridhar Appointed as Assistant Coach for Afghanistan Cricket Team

The Afghanistan Cricket Board on Wednesday appointed former India fielding coach R Sridhar as the assistant coach of the men's national team for the upcoming bilateral series against New Zealand and South Africa. R Sridhar was part of the Indian coaching staff between 2014 and 2021. He resigned from his post in November 2021. T Dilip replaced him as fielding coach after Rahul Dravid became the head coach of the Indian team in 2021.

Sridhar has played 35 first-class matches and 15 List A matches for Hyderabad. The Afghanistan Cricket Board said, "The Afghanistan Cricket Board has appointed Sridhar as the assistant coach for the only Test against New Zealand and the three-match ODI series against South Africa. The Afghanistan Cricket Board wants Sridhar to play this role effectively and hopes to have a long-term contract with him in the future."

Jonathan Trott is the head coach of the Afghanistan team, after which Sridhar has become a permanent part of the coaching staff. Earlier for the ODI World Cup, Afghanistan had appointed Ajay Jadeja as the mentor of the team. Similarly, for the T20 World Cup, Dwayne Bravo was made the bowling consultant.

The Afghanistan team has to play a one-off Test with New Zealand in September and a three-match ODI series with South Africa. Afghanistan has performed brilliantly recently. Afghanistan will play its first Test match against New Zealand in Greater Noida from September 9 to 13. The New Zealand team will reach Greater Noida on September 5 for a three-day acclimatization camp before the Test match.

The Afghanistan team will go to Delhi in late August for a week-long training and preparation camp before this match. Afghanistan got Test playing status in 2017. It has played against Ireland (2019), Bangladesh (2019) and Won three Test matches against Zimbabwe (2021).