cricket

India officially adopted the term 'Coach' only in early 1990 when former left-arm spinner Bishan Bedi was assigned the job for the tour of New Zealand. Prior to that, the team had the services of former cricketers like Polly Umrigar, Bapu Nadkarni and Col. Hemu Adhikari in some series. These former stalwarts would guide the players in the practice sessions and were an integral part of the team's think-tank. However, they were always referred to as 'Managers'.

Since that New Zealand tour 15 years ago, seven Indian nationals and one foreigner have served as coach of the Indian team. John Wright, the lone foreigner, has had the longest tenure of almost 54 months.

Following are details of the tenures of India's 'Coaches' since 1990:

Coach	First month in office	Tests	W	D	L	Win%	ODIs	W	Tie	Lost	NR	Win%
Bishan Singh Bedi	Feb 1990	4	1	2	1	25.00	8	6	0	2	0	75
Ashok Mankad	Oct 1991						5	3	2		60
Abbas Ali Baig	Nov 1991	5	0	1	4	0.00	26	10	1	14	1	38.46
Ajit Wadekar*	Oct 1992	22	10	10	2	45.46	70	41	1	27	1	58.57
Sandeep Patil	April 1996	3	0	2	1	0.00	10	2	0	7	1	20.00
Madan Lal	Oct 1996	20	5	10	5	25.00	79	33	1	38	7	41.77
Anshuman Gaekwad**	Sept 1997	8	2	2	4	25.00	47	24	0	22	1	51.06
Kapil Dev	Oct 1999	8	1	2	5	12.50	40	16	0	23	1	40.00
John Wright	Nov 2000	51	20	16	15	39.22	130	68	0	56	6	52.31

Note: * Sunil Gavaskar took over as Acting Coach of the Indian team when Ajit Wadekar suffered a heart attack during the Austral-Asia Cup at Sharjah in 1993-94. Gavaskar was with the team for two matches; the semi-final against Australia and the final against Pakistan.

** Gaekwad was reinstated as coach in September 2000 after Kapil Dev resigned. Gaekwad was with the team for nine one-day games (India won five and lost four) and a one-off Test against Bangladesh (India won). Wright took over after this match.