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List of Indian Cricket Team Coach

By Shubham Saxena March 14, 2023

Indian Cricket Team Coach

On the list of Indian national cricket team coaches who have either managed or coached the side throughout the previous century, Rahul Dravid is currently ranked 24th. Dravid has served as the head coach of the Indian cricket team since 2013.

The Indian national cricket team was granted Test status on June 25, 1932, following in the footsteps of other countries that played cricket, including England, Australia, South Africa, the West Indies, and New Zealand. And for a significant portion of its history, the Indian team did not have a full-time coach but rather a team manager responsible for overseeing things behind the scenes.

The following is a list of all of the coaches that have worked with the Indian national cricket team starting in 1971.

Duration Name of Coach Nationality
1971 Keki Tarapore India
1971 – 1974 Hemu Adhikari India
1975 Gulabrai Ramchand India
1978 Datta Gaekwad India
1980 – 1981 Salim Durrani India
1982 Ashok Mankad India
1983 – 1987 PR Man Singh India
1988 – 1989 & 2007 Chandu Borde India
1990 – 1991 Bishen Singh Bedi India
1991 – 1992 Abbas Ali Baig India
1992 – 1996 Ajit Wadekar India
1996 Sandeep Patil India
1996 – 1997 Madan Lal India
1997 – 1999 Anshuman Gaekwad India
1999- 2000 Kapil Dev India
2000 – 2005 John Wright New Zealand
2005 – 2007 Greg Chappell Australia
2007, 2015, 2017 – 2021 Ravi Shastri Ravi Shastri India
2007 – 2008 Lalchand Rajput India
2008 – 2011 Gary Kirsten South Africa
2011 – 2015 Duncan Fletcher Zimbabwe
2016 Sanjay Bangar (Interim) India
2016 – 2017 Anil Kumble India
2021-2023 Rahul Dravid India

Indian cricket team coaches

Rahul Dravid was appointed as the Indian cricket coach in 2021 by the Cricket Advisory Committee, which included Mr. RP Singh and Ms. Sulakshana Naik. Under whose leadership India earned multiple historic victories, Ravi Shastri handed the reins to Dravid. His first T20I series was against New Zealand at home. Team India's temporary head coach during the limited-overs series in Sri Lanka was Rahul Dravid. The former cricketer previously served as the National Cricket Academy's head coach and the coach of the India A and Under-19 teams. The squad had a 2-1 ODI series victory but a 2-1 T20I series defeat. Team India's coaching staff comprises Rahul Dravid, Vikram Rathour, T Dileep, and Paras Mhambrey.

Also Read: Most Successful Captain in India

 

The first Indian cricket team coach was Keki Tarapore

The first-class cricket highlights of former Karnataka cricketer Keki Tarapore were restricted to one Ranji Trophy encounter. Tarapore's primary role after retiring from playing was as a coach. On the other hand, as a coach, Tarapore had great renown among Indian cricket players. It is generally agreed that he was the first coach in the history of Indian cricket and that he held the position of team manager for the national cricket team in 1971.

PR Man Singh: India won the Cricket World Cup for the first time under his leadership.

Things in the backside had begun to change over the last 12 years, ever when Tarapore's coaching tenure ended. The Indian cricket team considered giving the management more autonomy and hired most retired players as its coaches and managers. Between 1983 and 1987, PR Man Singh served as the team manager. PR Man, who was not technically a coach but rather the team manager, made history when he became the first manager to steer Team India to victory in an Cricket World Cup competition.

By 1992, the Indian cricket team had adopted the strategy of awarding extended contracts to the national team coaches rather than selecting them on a tour basis. This was done in place of the previous practice of choosing new coaches for each trip. During this period, India was represented by managers like Chandu Borde and Bishan Singh Bedi. As a result of the new strategy, national team coaches like Ajit Wadekar, Sandeep Patil, and Madan Lal, amongst others, were given extended contracts to work with their teams.

Ajit Wadekar was the India cricket team's coach during the Cricket World Cup in 1996.

Ajit Wadekar, a former Indian cricketer, served as head coach for India at the 1996 Cricket World Cup with Mohammed Azharuddin. Wadekar was in charge of the team from 1992 to 1996. In addition, Wadekar is one of the very few coaches for the Indian national cricket team who has also held positions in Indian cricket as a Test player, a captain, a coach/team manager, and as the chairman of selectors. You'll also find the names of Lala Amarnath and Chandu Borde on this list.

Kapil Dev's contentious tenure as coach of the Indian cricket team.

After India failed to advance to the knockout rounds of the World Cup in 1996 and 1999, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to replace Anshuman Gaekwad with Kapil Dev, India's sole captain to have won the World Cup. After beginning his coaching career with a victory at home over New Zealand in a series, Kapil Dev then suffered defeats on the road in Australia and at home in the Test series against South Africa when Sachin Tendulkar was serving as captain.

Before the match-fixing incident involving Hansi Cronje, Sourav Ganguly had already taken over as captain in the subsequent one-day international series against the Proteas and won it 3-2. It was followed by Manoj Prabhakar's shocking accusations that Kapil Dev had tried to bribe him during a series in 1994. As a result of these charges, the Indian coach was forced to retire under the strain of the situation.

John Wright was the first foreign coach to work with the Indian cricket team.

After the match-fixing incident, the BCCI realized they needed to improve their public image; therefore, in 2000, they decided to hire John Wright, a former player from New Zealand. Team India achieved several remarkable victories, both at home and abroad from their country, while Ganguly was the team's dynamic captain, and Wright was responsible for the team's player management. Before he stepped down as captain of the Indian cricket team in 2005, Wright led the team to the championship match of the Cricket Cricket World Cup in 2003. This covers India's memorable victory over Australia in the Test match that took place in Kolkata in the year 2001, as well as a victory in an away series that took place in Pakistan, as well as triumphs in Test cricket matches played in England and Australia.

The unfortunate tenure of Greg Chappell as manager

Greg Chappell had behaved oppositely to that John Wright, who had made an example out of his friendship with Sourav Ganguly, the captain of the Indian team. His open hostility against Ganguly contributed to the skipper's removal from his position as captain of the Indian team, which allowed Rahul Dravid to assume those responsibilities instead. The results were not very favourable, as India won just 32 of the 62 matches they competed in during Chappell's tenure as a coach over three years. In 2007, he was no longer employed.

Gary Kirsten was the first foreign coach hired by India's national team and went on to win the World Cup.

Ravi Shastri served as an interim coach for India before Gary Kirsten took over the role in 2008, while Lalchand Rajput was the head coach for a brief period. And even though Rajput led India to their sole T20 World Cup victory in 2007, he was replaced by Kirsten within months. Kirsten began his coaching career with MS Dhoni as the team's captain. India went on to become the number one team in Tests while Kirsten was their coach, and he provided the finishing touch by leading India to their second World Cup victory in 2011 after a long wait of 21 years.

Ravi Shastri led India to unprecedented levels of success.

Gary Kirsten was succeeded as coach by Duncan Fletcher, who served in that role from 2011 until 2015 and led India to victory in the 2013 Cricket Champions Trophy. However, most of Fletcher's success came in the limited-overs format, and MS Dhoni's leadership is generally regarded as the reason for India's success. Ravi Shastri, a former Indian cricketer, became Fletcher's successor. Even though he did not win any big trophies during his tenure, Shastri transformed India into a dominant force in international cricket. Shastri's hiring had created an alarm for many people who believed Anil Kumble was the best guy for the position. Still, Virat Kohli, the new captain of the India cricket team, did not get along with the disciplinarian.

Team India remained the best test team in the world for an incredible 42 months, from 2016 to 2020, thanks to the powerful coaching and captaining tandem of Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli. Shastri led India to victories in 69.20% of their Twenty20 International matches, 67.1% of their One-Day International matches, and 58.10% of their Test matches. In addition to leading the team to victory in the 2018 Asia Cup, Shastri deserves credit for twice prevailing against Australia Down Under and guiding the squad to the final of the Cricket World Test Championship. Bharat Arun, his bowling coach, is also credited with developing fast bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and Ishant Sharma into dominant red-ball cricket players.

Also Read: World's Biggest Cricket Stadium

The current cricket coach for the Indian team is Rahul Dravid.

Dravid has been given the head coach position, with new captain Rohit Sharma at the lead. This comes from Shastri's decision to resign from his coaching position in 2021. Dravid was assigned to supervise the National Cricket Academy, where he was cultivating new and aspiring players after guiding India's Under-19 team to the World Cup championship in 2018.

These are some Indian cricket team coaches in the last few years. 

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FAQ’s

  • Who is the Indian cricket team's bowling coach, and what is their role? Arrow
    As a member of Rahul Dravid's coaching staff and a former medium pacer for Mumbai, Paras Mhambrey is now the bowling coach for the Indian Cricket team.
  • Since 2000, who has served as the head coach of the Indian cricket team? Arrow
    Since Kapil Dev resigned as head coach of the Indian cricket team in 2000, the team has had nine different coaches. These individuals were John Wright, Greg Chappell, Ravi Shastri, Lalchand Rajput, Gary Kirsten, Duncan Fletcher, Anil Kumble, and Rahul Dravid. There have been four head coaches from other countries, with John Wright holding the record for the longest tenure. Sanjay Bangar was serving in an interim capacity.
  • Who now serves in the role of coach for the Indian cricket team? Arrow
    When we speak about the Indian team, we should note that Rahul Dravid, the current head coach, was Rahul Dravid's 24th coach in the team's long history. On June 25, 1932, the Indian Cricket Team was granted Test status. They became the sixth team in the world to be granted Test status, following in the footsteps of England, Australia, the West Indies, South Africa, and New Zealand.
  • Who will be coaching India's T20 team? Arrow
    After the Twenty20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates in 2021, Dravid succeeded Ravi Shastri as the head coach of the Indian cricket team.
  • What qualifications are needed to become the Indian cricket team's coach? Arrow
    The candidate should have played a minimum of 30 tests or 50 ODIs, should have coached a full-member Test-playing nation for two years; or should have coached an ICC associate member/IPL team/trained team for three years, or should have BCCI Level 3 Certification or an equivalent; or should have coached an ICC associate member/IPL team/trained team for three years.
  • What qualifications are necessary to become a cricket coach? Arrow
    A good coach is upbeat, enthusiastic, supportive, goal-oriented, focused, educated, attentive, polite, patient, and clear in communication.
  • Is MS Dhoni India's coach? Arrow
    As the team's mentor for the 2021 T20 World Cup, MS Dhoni was a part of Team India's coaching staff.
  • Who was Virat Kohli's coach? Arrow
    Since he was 10 years old, Rajkumar Sharma has coached Kohli. Star cricketer Virat Kohli met his boyhood coach Rajkumar Sharma just before the Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore game started.
  • Who is the most successful cricket coach of Indian cricket team? Arrow
    The left-handed South African opener, Gary Kirsten, was the most successful coach of the Indian team in history.

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