Ramakrishnan Sridhar is an Indian former cricketer who later transitioned into a coaching career, most notably serving as the fielding coach of the senior India national cricket team. He is widely recognised within Indian cricket circles for his contribution to the modernisation of fielding standards in the national side during the mid-2010s and the latter half of the decade.
| Name | Ramakrishnan Sridhar |
|---|---|
| Also known as | R. Sridhar |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Profession | Cricketer; cricket coach |
| Playing role | Slow left-arm orthodox spinner |
| Domestic team | Hyderabad |
| Notable coaching role | Fielding coach, India national cricket team |
Sridhar came up through the cricketing system in Hyderabad, one of the established centres of Indian domestic cricket. He played first-class cricket as a left-arm spinner for Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy. After his playing career, he moved into coaching, working with junior and zonal sides before taking up specialist roles with the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
At the NCA, Sridhar was associated with the development of younger cricketers and the training of fielding skills. His work at the academy established his reputation as a specialist fielding coach within the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) ecosystem.
Sridhar was appointed fielding coach of the senior India men's team in 2014. He served in the role across multiple head-coaching tenures, including those of Duncan Fletcher, Anil Kumble and Ravi Shastri, and worked alongside batting coach Sanjay Bangar and bowling coach Bharat Arun for an extended period during the Shastri era.
During his tenure, India's fielding standards were widely regarded to have improved, with greater emphasis on athleticism, catching at close-in positions, and ground fielding in the outfield. He was part of the support staff during India's overseas Test successes in this period, including bilateral series in Australia.
His association with the senior team ended in 2021, when the support staff was reconstituted following the appointment of Rahul Dravid as head coach after the ICC Men's T20 World Cup held in the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
Sridhar is considered among the first specialist fielding coaches to have a long, continuous tenure with the Indian senior team. His work contributed to a structural shift in how fielding was treated within the Indian set-up, with dedicated drills, position-specific training, and fitness-linked benchmarks becoming part of regular preparation. He is also credited with mentoring fielders such as Ravindra Jadeja, who became one of the leading fielders in world cricket during this period.