The year 2000 was a landmark year for Indian cricket. The team was struggling and the controversies around the match fixing incidents were a continuous topic adding additional stress from the players. This is when BCCI took some groundbreaking decisions and one of them was to appoint a foreign coach for the national cricket team. The game of cricket was changing and that was the stepping stone for Indian cricket towards modernization.
John Wright (2000 – 2005)
The retired Kiwi opener was a coach for the English county Kent where he worked with Rahul Dravid, whose recommendation played a key role in Wright becoming the first foreign coach of the Indian team. He developed a very good working relationship with the new captain Sourav Ganguly and played a key role in the development of some of the future stars like Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan. During his coaching India won the memorable 2001 home series against Australia, draw the return series 1-1 and won their first ever Test series at Pakistan beating them 2-1 in 2004. During the same time period, India were the joint-winner of the 2002 Champions Trophy and also reached the final of the 2003 World Cup. However, the success started to deteriorate post 2004 and by mid-2005 Wright’s stint was over.
Greg Chappell (2005 – 2007)
The Australian great from the 70’s, Greg had a very good understanding of the game like his brother Ian. However, his Australian style of work was not always popular in the dressing room. It was an irony that the captain Ganguly who played a key role in appointing Chappell also had an open altercation with him which led to his sacking as captain and he was dropped from the team. Ganguly did make a comeback after 18 months but that was one of the biggest controversies in Indian cricket and impacted the result. Although the Chappell era was a successful one, especially in One Day Cricket where India developed to be a very good chasing side but the group league exit in the 2007 World cup resulted in Chappell’s sacking.
Lalchand Rajput (2007 – 2008)
Rajput was coach for a brief period and his lasting legacy would be to take a young Indian team to the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 and return victorious.
Garry Kirsten (2008 – 2011)
Garry Kirsten became India’s next foreign coach and he oversaw a period of change as the India team under MS Dhoni started to achieve new hights and gradually became one of the strongest team in world cricket. Success at both home and away eventually culminated to India winning the World Cup after 28 years in 2011. Kirsten joined Indian team less than 4 years after his retirement and he played with many of the squad members but he was still able to generate respect and also build a great working relationship with Dhoni as he left as one of the most successful Indian coach ever.
Duncan Fletcher (2011 – 2015)
The ex-Zimbabwe captain Duncan Fletcher joined the Indian team as coach after a successful stint with the England national team as he helped them to win the memorable Ashes 2005. However, his engagement with India was not as successful. It was not controversial like Chappell’s but 8 consecutive Test match loss in England and Australia was a big blot in his coaching career. India also lost a home test series to England 2-1 under him and although the ODI performance was much better including a Champions Trophy win in 2013, Fletcher left after the Semi-final exit in World Cup 2015.
Anil Kumble (2016 – 2017)
After fletcher, there was a period when Ravi Shastri and Sanjay Bangar managed as interim coach till the legendary Anil Kumble was appointed as the Indian coach. He was the coach for less than a year as his strict style of coaching was not popular among the players and the captain Virat Kohli. After India lost the 2017 Champions Trophy final to Pakistan, Kumble Stepped down from his post.
Ravi Shasti (2017 – 2021)
Shastri eventually became India’s permanent coach in 2017 and oversaw a very successful period over the next 4 years. Along with captain Kohli, Shastri played a key role in developing a group of fast bowlers which helped them to achieve success in overseas tours regularly. This was also the period when Covid hit cricket but the Shastri era will be remembered for India’s consecutive Test series win in Australia in 2018 and 2021 and also the 2-1 series lead they took in England before Covid forced the series to be abandoned.
Rahul Dravid (2021 – 2024)
Rahul Dravid started his coaching career with the Indian Under-19 team as under him, they were runners in 2016 and champion in 2018. Top players like Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Arshdeep Singh, Washington Sundar and many others wer part of those teams. He also had a successful stint with the National Cricket Academy before he was appointed the coach of the senior national team. Like many previous coaches, his understanding with the captain Rohit Sharma played a key role in India’s success. The Test series win against England in 2023 was a great feat. Also, Dravid helped India to three consecutive ICC tournament final including the 2023 World Test Championship, 2023 50-Over World Cup and 2024 T20 World Cup. Even during the 50-Over World Cup, India were the best team of the tournament before a shocking loss in the final but during the T20 World Cup, India did not repeat their mistake and became the first team to win the tournament unbeaten. It was a great culmination to Dravid’s coaching stint for India although the fans wanted more.
Gautam Gambhir, a successful IPL captain and mentor, was appointed India’s new coach and his first coaching assignment will start in 2 weeks time in Sri Lanka. Indian cricket is going through a transition and it will be interesting to see how Gambhir can guide it.
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