Ramesh Powar's Unique Role as Spin Coach for Australia Under-19

In the quiet heat of a Rajkot afternoon, at the Niranjan Shah Stadium nets, an unmistakable figure slipped into an unusual role. Ramesh Powar, the former India and Mumbai off-spinner, was not barking orders in a domestic camp or overseeing a state side. He was in Australian colours, working as a short-term spin coach with their Under-19 squad.

For four days, one of Indian cricket’s more intriguing coaching minds is on the other side of the fence.

Cricket Australia had reached out months ago, asking him to spend time with their young spinners. They knew what they were getting. Powar had been in their system before, invited in June 2018 to work with Australia’s Under-23 spinners at CA’s Centre of Excellence in Brisbane. Those sessions clearly left a mark.

“They have an idea of how I can help their young spinners,” Powar said, speaking from Rajkot on Sunday. This was a prior commitment, so he honoured it. Simple as that.

He joined the Australian Under-19s on Saturday and will stay with them through to their final Youth ODI against India on Wednesday. The series has already started with a tight one: India edged the opening Under-19 one-dayer by seven runs on Friday. The next two games are set for Monday and Wednesday, and somewhere in that short window, Powar’s tweaks and tips will try to take root in Australian wrists and fingers.

At the nets on Sunday, he was deep in his element — small corrections, quiet conversations, technical cues only a seasoned spinner sees. No grand gestures, just craft being passed on.

Back home, his own future sits at a different kind of crossroads.

Powar has applied for the junior selector’s post with the BCCI. The board has yet to hold interviews, but the process is moving. After the BCCI’s AGM on Friday, secretary Devajit Saikia confirmed that candidates are being shortlisted. The Cricket Advisory Committee will then step in, conduct interviews, and wrap up the process over the next 15 days.

It’s a significant position, especially for someone who has spent the last few years shaping teams from the dugout.

Powar’s coaching résumé has grown steadily. He served as head coach of the India women’s team, then took charge of Gujarat for three seasons. Before that, he guided Mumbai to the Vijay Hazare Trophy title in March 2021, restoring a sense of steel to a side that demands silverware as a habit, not a surprise.

So here he is: one eye on a possible national selection role, the other on a group of Australian teenagers trying to understand how to make a ball dip, drift and bite on Indian pitches.

For now, the alliance is temporary. Four days, three Youth ODIs, and a brief but telling reminder that expertise travels easily across borders, even when the shirts don’t match.