The men who were in charge prior to Anil Kumble and how it all began for
them.
Legendary Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble was recently appointed
as Team India’s new head coach. As has been the case with other coaches that
India have hired in the past, there are a large number of expectations that
Kumble will need to meet as he takes up one of the most stressful yet rewarding
jobs in cricket.
Since the turn of the millennium, the Indian team has had as
many as 5 different coaches who have had contrasting fortunes during their
respective tenures. Even the beginnings varied for each of them as some had a
baptism by fire whereas others got time to warm up to the task.
Here we take a look at 5 previous Indian coaches and how they
performed in their first assignment:
1.
John Wright (2000-2005) – Zimbabwe tour of India, 2000/01
Former New Zealand cricketer John Wright is primarily known in
Indian cricketing circles as one of the best coaches the team has ever had. He
and then skipper Sourav Ganguly are seen as the driving forces behind the
complete transformation in the way the team played its cricket.
Wright was a little fortunate, though, in terms of getting an
easier way to begin his journey as Team India’s coach. Although Zimbabwe used
to be a pretty strong team back then, playing against them in home conditions
was never really going to be a big problem for the Indians.
First came a 2-match Test series in which India won the first
Test quite comprehensively by 7 wickets while the visitors fought hard to
clinch a draw in the second one. In the 5-ODI series that followed, the Indian
team thrashed the Zimbabweans by a 4-1 margin.
2.
Greg Chappell (2005-2007) – Indian Oil Cup Tri-series (India, Sri Lanka, West
Indies)
Greg Chappell is one of the most infamous figures to be
associated with Indian cricket over the past couple of decades. His fall-out
with former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly during his tenure as coach is among
the darkest chapters in the country’s cricket and culminated in the latter’s
exit from the team.
Chappell’s two-year association with Team India began in May
2005 and his first assignment was the Indian Oil Cup tri-series in Sri Lanka,
which also featured the home side and West Indies. Despite losing their
matches to the Sri Lankans, India made it to the final after beating West
Indies in both their matches.
In the final, the Indians fell prey to the home side once again
and lost the match by a margin of 18 runs.
3.
Gary Kirsten (2007-2011) – South Africa in India, 3-Test series
Arguably the finest coach the Indian team has ever had,
Gary Kirsten, had a glittering tenure with the MS Dhoni-led side. Apart from a
World Cup triumph after 28 years of wait, India also reached the pinnacle of
success in Test cricket by becoming the No. 1 side in the format with the South
African as coach.
Although Kirsten had
been signed up in December 2007, his first series as Indian coach came about in
March 2008 when his home team, South Africa, toured India for a 3-Test series.
The first Test, which saw Virender Sehwag score his 2nd triple century, ended in a draw while the
Proteas inflicted and innings defeat over the hosts in the next one.
Team India fought back
brilliantly in the 3rd and
final Test to win by 8 wickets and level the series 1-1.
4.
Duncan Fletcher (2011-2015) – India tour to West Indies, 2011
Following the end of Gary Kirsten’s highly successful stint,
former Zimbabwean cricketer Duncan Fletcher was appointed as the head coach of
Team India in April 2011. With a long history of coaching success behind him,
Fletcher was expected to take Indian cricket to greater heights but things didn’t
quite go as planned.
India’s tour to the West
Indies in 2011 was his first assignment as the team's coach and included a
T20I, 5 ODIs and 3 Tests against the home side. The Indians won the T20I and
also sealed the ODI series 3-2. They also managed to clinch the Test series by
winning the 1st Test while
the other two matches ended in a draw.
While Duncan Fletcher enjoyed overseas success early on, things
only got worse for him in the years that followed.
5.
Ravi Shastri (2015-2016) – India tour to Bangladesh, 2015
Although Ravi Shastri had already taken over as the director of
the Indian team during Duncan Fletcher’s coaching stint, he took complete
control only after the latter’s tenure ended. While his job early on was to
oversee the team affairs, Shastri’s role ventured into the coaching territory
since Fletcher left.
His first series as the independent team director was when India
toured Bangladesh for a one-off Test and a 3-match ODI series. Weather played
spoilsport during the Test after the Indians were in a dominant position and it
ended up being a draw.
However, the ODI series proved to be quite a shameful outing for
Team India as they lost the series 1-2 against a fired-up Bangladeshi team.
Representative Images
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