Bangladesh appoints Ex-Indian all-rounder Sridharan Sriram as the coach for Asia Cup and the T20 WC

The 2022 edition of the Asia Cup is just a few days away. It will be an excellent opportunity for all the Asian teams to prepare themselves and check their strength ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia. The Asia Cup will start with the first match between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka on Saturday, August 27.

A total of six teams will compete in this competition to prove their dominance in the Asia region. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and one other qualifying team will feature in this tournament. All the major Asian teams have announced their squads for the tournament.

On Friday, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) named the former Indian all-rounder Sridharan Sriram as the head coach of the men's team for the upcoming Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup later in Australia. Sridharan, who served as the assistant coach for the Australian side, has left the team in search of other opportunities in coaching.

As per the report in "The Daily Star", it is learnt that the former Indian all-rounder will work as the coach of the Bangladesh national team in both major upcoming events. On the other hand, Bangladesh head coach Russell Dominigo will take charge in the red-ball format for the team.

The report from the BCB quoted, "Yes, we have chosen Sriram up until the World Cup. As we are moving forward with a fresh mindset, the new coach will be seen from the Asia Cup onwards. And since the T20 World Cup is our main target, he (a new coach) will not get time to adapt if he is not recruited from the Asia Cup."

Sridharan has also been the spin-bowling coach for Australia since 2016. He left the position to pursue his coaching career with the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He has represented India in eight one-day internationals between the 2000 to 2004 period. He played his last ODI match against Bangladesh in 2004 at Dhaka.

Earlier, the BCB appointed star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan as the captain for the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup. Bangladesh will open their campaign with a match against Afghanistan on Tuesday, August 30.