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Former India spinner feels condition in Bangalore will favour Aussies

[caption id="attachment_37980" align="alignnone" width="580"] Australia's spin bowling consultant Sridharan Sriram talking to media in Pune.[/caption] Internet Desk: Former India and Tamil Nadu spinner Sridharan Sriram, who is also the spin consultant of the current Australian team feels Stephen O’Keefe’s ability to quickly adapt to the conditions in Pune paved the way for his success. The left arm spinner had a pretty ordinary spell before lunch on Day 1, but a small input from Sriram during the break worked wonders for Sok. "He told me he was a bit nervous to start off and he was in his comfort zone and trying to bowl as he would do in Australia. But, I said 'Sok, what do you think you need on this wicket?' and he said 'I need to go a little bit rounder and quicker.' And I just said to him 'go for it mate' because you know what you can do and you know what you need to do. Just go for it. And I think he adapted beautifully," said Sriram to the media in Pune. The former India and Tamil Nadu spinner has earlier worked with O’Keefe in 2015 when he represented Australia A. The Oz tweaker breached through the defence of India ‘A’ batsmen to return with a rich haul of six wickets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Two years later, the same combination of SOK (called by his teammates) and Sriram once again plotted the downfall of Kohli & Co in Pune. O’Keefe returned with a match winning spell of 12 wickets to script a memorable win for the Aussies. On being asked how did he see him (O’Keefe) work since that Australia A tour, Sriram said, "I have not been with him right through, I've seen him in patches after that. But the good thing is, you can even follow him bowling in the Sheffield Shield game because I can see it on Cricket Australia's website. I can see what he's doing. So I've been following him quite a bit in that I have watched even some games live, I've watched the Sheffield Shield games. So, I think he wanted it badly. He knew that he was the sort of subcontinent expert that the Australians were looking for and he knew that he had to play over here, so I think he sort of stepped up to that beautifully." The former India spinner also credited the preparatory camp the Australian team underwent in Dubai before coming down to India. According to Sriram, "You prepare for the worst. Then if you get the best, you go for it. But I think the preparation in Dubai was excellent. We prepared different tracks. We made a rough. We made rank turners. We made slow and low pitches. So I think it was a great preparation in terms of trying different surfaces and being prepared for whatever you get." Talking about the wicket in Pune, Sriram said, "I can't say one particular match. But I've seen worse than this. I can tell you." Virat Kohli and his team will be wary about the Australian spinners before taking them on in Chinnaswamy Stadium. One can assume the conditions will be a lot better from the one that was present in Pune. The visitors will also feel confident as they have the best record in the venue. According to Sriram, “See, Bangalore could be totally different, Ranchi could be totally different so… Sitting here, I guess it’ll be difficult to answer that question. What we’ve done well in this Test match and what we can take away is that we’ve adopted on the go. And that’s what I think we should look to do throughout the series.” Lastly on the torn loyalties, Sriram admitted, "Really I am happy for the Australian spinners. I think they deserved it for the work they have put in over the last few weeks leading up to it. Over the last two years I've been with them, I've been very keen to come and make a difference to Australia and I am very happy for them."