Hyderabad: September 5 is celebrated as Teacher’s Day in India and the teachers are paid tribute by the individuals for the role they play. The day is celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.
Be it sports or entertainment, education or health, a teacher always plays an important role. There have been many legendary cricketers in our cricket-crazy country, who guided the national teams as head coaches after playing cricket for the country. In a way, they played a similar role to teachers who provided learning to their pupils.
Kapil Dev: The captain of the 1983 World Cup-winning team and a great all-rounder, Kapil Dev became the head coach of the national side in 1999. During his tenure from September 1999 to September 2000, India had to face embarrassing Test series defeats against Australia and South Africa. Unfortunately, the match-fixing allegations levelled against him shook the cricketing world. As a result, due to this pressure, he resigned from his post.
Anil Kumble: The former Indian spinner who worked with two Indian Premier League (IPL) teams was appointed as head coach of the national side in 2016. The head coach then resigned from his post after working for a year in the role after differences with captain Virat Kohli.
Sandip Patil: The former Indian cricketer was elected as the country’s head coach for the 1996 series against England. However, the Indian team suffered defeats in the Test and ODI series and Patil was sacked from the post.
Madan Lal: Former Indian fast bowler Madan Lal was appointed as the head coach of the Indian cricket team in 1996. During his one-year tenure, India defeated Australia and South Africa at home. But, they had to face a humiliating defeat against the West Indies.
Anshuman Gaikwad: During the coaching tenure of late Anshuman Gaikwad (1997 to 1999), India did really well in limited overs cricket. Interestingly, Anil Kumble's world record of 10 wickets in a Test match also came during his time. Gaikwad replaced Madan Lal during a difficult time and did a good job.
Ravi Shastri: Former veteran cricketer Ravi Shastri did a good job as the team director in 2015-16, maintaining a great rapport with captain Virat Kohli. Highlights of his career include India reclaiming the top spot in Tests for a short period (eight weeks), reaching two World Cup semi-finals and defeating Australia 3–0 in Australia (T20 series). The national side also performed brilliantly in home Tests and the Indian team remained undefeated in 14 Tests in a row.
Gautam Gambhir: At 42, Gautam Gambhir is the youngest head coach in the history of Indian cricket. He replaced Rahul Dravid whose tenure ended with the recently concluded T20 World Cup. Dravid turned down the extension to spend more time with his family. Gautam Gambhir was elected unopposed for the role.
