Sridharan Sriram: Meet the CSK Bowling Coach 2025
The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) appointed Sridharan Sriram as their assistant bowling coach for the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) season to bring his experience to the team to help with their bowling plans and develop young talent as CSK attempts to elevate its performance in the league. Before being named CSK bowling coach 2025, Sridharan Sriram served as a mentor for the Australian Men’s Cricket Team, where he served as an assistant coach from 2016-2022. He also served in a consulting role in terms of strategy for the Bangladesh national team in the major tournaments for the Asia Cup, T20 World Cup, and ODI World Cup. Sridharan Sriram is a former Indian all-rounder. His bowling experience comes from his former playing role in the Indian team. Here’s an overview of his cricketing career, his role at CSK, and his team’s performance during the 2025 season.
Sriram had just joined up with the coaching group at CSK that included head coach Stephen Fleming, batting coach Mike Hussey, and bowling consultant Eric Simons. Sriram will mainly be mentoring the spin bowling department with Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad from Afghanistan as players on the roster.
Sriram’s appointment comes in the wake of Dwayne Bravo’s retirement, who previously held the role of CSK’s bowling coach before signing with the Kolkata Knight Riders as a mentor.
Sridharan Sriram’s appointment as assistant bowling coach for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) season added a significant and welcome member to the coaching staff. Here is a short overview of his cricket career, as well as his start in the assistant coach role at CSK, and how the team fared in the season.
Sridharan Sriram: Cricketing Career & Coaching Experience
Sriram was born in Chennai on 21 February 1976. He is a former Indian cricketer and was a left-handed batsman and a left-arm orthodox spinner. Sriram played for India in 8 One Day Internationals from 2000 to 2004. Sriram enjoyed a phenomenal domestic career, scoring over 9,500 runs with 32 first-class centuries, while he also took 85 wickets.
Sriram was in various coaching positions prior to becoming the CSK bowling coach in 2025. Sriram was also an assistant coach with Australia from 2016 to 2022. In August, he was appointed as Bangladesh’s T20 consultant for 2022. He then joined as a technical consultant at the event of ICC ODI World Cup event in 2023. Sriram subsequently joined the Lucknow SuperGiants (LSG) as an assistant coach for the 2024 Indian Premier League. Sriram had previously been an assistant coach with the Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) as well.
Considering his extensive experience of coaching spin bowling at various levels, Sriram was a great addition to the CSK coaching team.
Role in CSK’s 2025 IPL Season
A year after CSK ended up finishing fifth in the previous season with seven wins and seven defeats, almost not qualifying for the playoffs, Sriram came into the fold for the 2025 IPL season so as to strengthen the spin department, alongside head coach Stephen Fleming, batting coach Mike Hussey, and bowling consultant Eric Simons.
During Sriram’s engagement at CSK, Sriram worked primarily with spin bowlers of note such as veteran Ravichandran Ashwin, veteran Ravindra Jadeja, and younger spin bowlers like Shreyas Gopal or Afghanistan international Noor Ahmad. He also worked with spinners who were bowling all-rounders such as Deepak Hooda and Rachin Ravindra.
CSK’s Performance in IPL 2025
2025 was a rough year for CSK even with the addition of Sriram to the coaching staff. CSK finished in last place on the points table with only four wins out of 14 matches; this was CSK’s first last-place finish in IPL history. Horror season for CSK who also lost a franchise record five home games and became the first team out of playoff contention.
Back in 2004, the accuracy of Sriram’s spin bowling was on full display, but that quality was not translated into regular wins for the team. Anyway, with injuries and indecisions in all departments, consistency was surely going to matter less.
List of CSK coaches and support staff for IPL 2025
Bravo, a previously employed Bowling Coach and yellow army player, is out, but head Coach Stephen Fleming is committed through the 2025 season.
The Super Kings haven’t officially said anything about the West Indian’s replacement for the position of bowling coach! Eric Simons, on the other hand, will be back for another season as a bowling consultant.
There have also been suggestions that retired player R Ashwin, who returned to the team this year, could be the bowling coach after he retires.
Here is a list of all coaches and support staff for the Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2025:
| Role | Coach/Support Staff |
|---|---|
| Head Coach | Stephen Fleming |
| Bowling Coach | S. Sriram |
| Batting Coach | Michael Hussey |
| Bowling consultant | Eric Simons |
| Batting & Fielding Coach | Rajiv Kumar |
| Physiotherapist | Tommy Simsek |
| Trainer | Gregory King |
| High Performance Analyst | Lakshmi Narayan |
| Logistics Manager | Sanjay Natarajan |
| Masseur | Khalil Khan |
| Team Doctor | Dr. R Madhu Thottappillil |
| Team Manager | R Russell |
Conclusion
As a spin-bowling mentor of the CSK coaching team, Sridharan Sriram began in 2025. He gave it everything possible, but CSK had a poor season, finishing last on points. The season revealed how fragile squad balance can be and how complex coaching at the professional level of cricket can be.
Read More Timeline