Rahul Dravid, the current head coach of the Indian cricket team, sits 24th on the list of India national cricket team coaches who have either managed or coached the side over the last century.
On June 25, 1932, the Indian national cricket team had received Test status following cricket playing nations like England, Australia, South Africa, the West Indies, and New Zealand. And for the longest time, the Indian team didn’t have a dedicated coach but a team manager to supervise things in the backroom.
Below is the list of all the Indian national cricket team managers and coaches from 1971.
Indian national cricket team coaches: Full list
| Serial No | Team India head coach | Duration | Nationality |
| 1 | Keki Tarapore | 1971 | India |
| 2 | Hemu Adhikari | 1971 – 1974 | India |
| 3 | Gulabrai Ramchand | 1975 | India |
| 4 | Datta Gaekwad | 1978 | India |
| 5 | Salim Durrani | 1980 – 1981 | India |
| 6 | Ashok Mankad | 1982 | India |
| 7 | PR Man Singh | 1983 – 1987 | India |
| 8 | Chandu Borde | 1988 – 1989 & 2007 | India |
| 9 | Bishen Singh Bedi | 1990 – 1991 | India |
| 10 | Abbas Ali Baig | 1991 – 1992 | India |
| 11 | Ajit Wadekar | 1992 – 1996 | India |
| 12 | Sandeep Patil | 1996 | India |
| 13 | Madan Lal | 1996 – 1997 | India |
| 14 | Anshuman Gaekwad | 1997 – 1999 | India |
| 15 | Kapil Dev | 1999- 2000 | India |
| 16 | John Wright | 2000 – 2005 | New Zealand |
| 17 | Greg Chappell | 2005 – 2007 | Australia |
| 18 | Ravi Shastri | 2007, 2015, 2017 – 2021 | India |
| 19 | Lalchand Rajput | 2007 – 2008 | India |
| 20 | Gary Kirsten | 2008 – 2011 | South Africa |
| 21 | Duncan Fletcher | 2011 – 2015 | Zimbabwe |
| 22 | Sanjay Bangar (Interim) | 2016 | India |
| 23 | Anil Kumble | 2016 – 2017 | India |
| 24 | Rahul Dravid | 2021-2023 | India |
Keki Tarapore: First Indian cricket team coach
Karnataka cricketer Keki Tarapore was more a coach than a cricketer, whose first-class cricket highlights were limited to one Ranji Trophy match. However, Tarapore was highly respected amongst Indian cricketers as a coach. He was the team manager of the national cricket team in 1971 and is widely regarded as the first coach in Indian cricket history.
PR Man Singh: India won the first ICC World Cup under him
Not exactly a coach but a team manager, PR Man created history by becoming the first manager to lead Team India to an ICC World Cup title. In the last 12 years since Tarapore’s coaching stint, things had started changing at the backend. The Indian cricket team appointed mostly former players and contemplated giving longer rope to the team managers. PR Man Singh remained the team manager from 1983 to 1987.
By 1992, the Indian cricket team adopted the policy of giving long contracts to the national team coaches rather than appointing them on a tour basis. India had managers like Chandu Borde and Bishan Singh Bedi in the meantime. The new policy saw national team coaches like Ajit Wadekar, Sandeep Patil, Madan Lal, and more coming in with more extended contracts.
Ajit Wadekar: India coach for the 1996 ICC Cricket World Cup
Former Indian cricketer Ajit Wadekar was at the helm from 1992 to 1996 and coached India in the 1996 Cricket World Cup with Mohammed Azharuddin. Wadekar is also among the very few Indian national cricket team coaches who served Indian cricket as a Test player, a captain, a coach/ team manager, and the chairman of selectors. Lala Amarnath and Chandu Borde are also on this list.
Kapil Dev’s controversial stint as Indian cricket team coach
After India couldn’t get into the knockout stages in both the 1996 and 1999 World Cup, BCCI decided to bring India’s only World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev to the helm by replacing Anshuman Gaekwad. Kapil Dev started his coaching stint with a home series win over New Zealand before losing to Australia away and South Africa in the Test series at home with Sachin Tendulkar as the skipper.
Sourav Ganguly had taken over as the captain in the following ODI series against the Proteas and won it 3-2 before the match-fixing scandal of Hansi Cronje came to light. It was followed by Manoj Prabhakar‘s sensational claims about Kapil Dev trying to bribe him during a series in 1994, following which the Indian coach had to resign under pressure.
John Wright: Indian cricket team’s first foreign coach
BCCI had to clean the image following the match-fixing scandal, and they decided to bring in former New Zealand player John Wright in 2000. Under Ganguly’s vibrant captaincy and Wright’s man-management skills, Team India had some memorable wins against mighty opponents both in and away from home. It includes India’s famous Test match win against Australia in the 2001 Kolkata Test, an away series win in Pakistan, and victories in Test cricket matches in England and Australia. India had reached the final of the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup with Wright at the helm before he left the role in 2005.
The infamous Greg Chappell era
If John Wright had made an example out of his camaraderie with Indian team captain Sourav Ganguly, Greg Chappell had done the exact opposite. His public animosity with Ganguly eventually led to the skipper losing his captaincy as well as a spot in the Indian team with Rahul Dravid taking the reins. The consequences weren’t great as India could win only 32 of the 62 matches that they played in three years with Chappell as the coach. He was removed in 2007.
Gary Kirsten: First foreign India team coach and a World Cup-winner
Before Gary Kirsten took the coaching position in 2008, India had Ravi Shastri as an interim coach and Lalchand Rajput for a short stint. And despite Rajput leading India to their only T20 World Cup in 2007, he was replaced within months by Kirsten, who started his coaching stint with MS Dhoni as the captain. Under Kirsten, India went on to become the no. 1 team in Tests and he added cherry on the top by winning India’s second World Cup trophy in 2011 after 21 long years.
Ravi Shastri took India to new heights
Gary Kirsten was followed by Duncan Fletcher from 2011 to 2015 who won the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy with the Men in Blue but his success mostly came in the limited-overs format with MS Dhoni’s captaincy widely regarded as the key to India’s success. Fletcher was succeeded by former Indian cricketer Ravi Shastri who, despite not winning any major titles, made India a superpower in world cricket. Shastri’s appointment had led to cause concern for many who thought Anil Kumble was the perfect man for the job, but new India cricket team captain Virat Kohli couldn’t really get together with the disciplinarian.
Shastri and Kohli formed a formidable coach-captain duo as Team India remained the no. 1 Test team in the world for an unbelievable 42 months spanning from 2016 to 2020. Under Shastri, India had won 58.10 % of Test matches, 67.1% of their ODI matches and 69.20 % of their T20I matches. Apart from winning the 2018 Asia Cup, Shastri should also be credited for beating Australia Donw Under twice and taking the team to the ICC World Test Championship final. His bowling coach Bharat Arun is also credited to bring up pacers like Jaspirt Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and more to dominate red-ball cricket.
Rahul Dravid: Indian team’s current cricket coach
After leading India’s U-19 team to the World Cup title in 2018, Dravid was given the responsibility of managing the National Cricket Academy where he was nurturing young and upcoming players. However, with Shastri stepping down from the coaching role in 2021, Dravid has been handed the job with new captain Rohit Sharma at the helm.
FAQs
Who is the bowling coach of the Indian Cricket team?
Former Mumbai medium pacer Paras Mhambrey is the current bowling coach of the Indian Cricket team and is a part of Rahul Dravid’s coaching staff.
Who have been the Indian cricket team coaches since 2000?
The Indian cricket team has had 9 coaches since 2000 when Kapil Dev left the job. They were John Wright, Greg Chappell, Ravi Shastri, Lalchand Rajput, Gary Kirsten, Duncan Fletcher, Sanjay Bangar (Interim), Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid. There have been four foreign coaches with John Wright having the longest stint.
