Greg Chappell Era Was Far Better Than The Gautam Gambhir Era: Dissecting The Gambhir vs Chappell Debate In Numbers

Gautam Gambhir succeeded Rahul Dravid as the Head Coach of Team India amid huge fanfare. Back in 2005-06, former Australian player Greg Chappell too succeeded John Wright as Team India's Head Coach on the insistence of Indian captain Sourav Ganguly. The Chappell era has always been looked at as one of the darkest phases of Indian cricket. No Indian fan can forget the visuals of Rahul Dravid shedding tears after Sri Lanka knocked India out of the 2007 ODI World Cup . Chappell, once considered as a dressing room dictator continued to be in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

No Indian cricket fan wanted to relive the horrific memories of the Indian cricket team crumbling under the Indian cricket team, but contrary to all the high expectations, the Gautam Gambhir era has shown glimpses of what the Chappell era used to be like. Under Gautam Gambhir, India lost an ODI series to Sri Lanka 2-0. New Zealand whitewashed India in their own backyard and to make matters worse, India also lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Series after a decade.

There are rumours of rift in the Indian dressing room. It is being said that all is not well between the coach and the captain, they are just few of the many parallels between the Gambhir and the Chappell era. Gautam Gambhir has coached India in 19 international games (ODIs, Tests and T20Is) so far. Let's have a look at Gautam Gambhir vs Greg Chappell win percentage after as many games.

The Gautam Gambhir Era: All Talk, No Play

Gautam Gambhir, just like Greg Chappell, entered the Indian team setup with a limited coaching experience. The former India cricketer had mentored Lucknow Super Giants and in the past and also led Kolkata Knight Riders to their third IPL title last year, but ODI and Test cricket are all pretty different ball games and Gambhir surely seems to be getting a taste of it.

Gambhir, in his initial coaching days sustained a 0-2 loss to Sri Lanka, but this outcome was shrugged off as India had won their second T20 World Cup few days prior to that. But the 3-0 series loss to New Zealand shook the very foundations of Indian cricket. This is something that no visiting team could ever do to India on Indian soil. Gambhir's tactics were questioned, but he remained adamant on his methods and we all know, what happened in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

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Rumours of rift and divide in the dressing room was the last thing that Indian fans wanted, but as per a report published in the Indian Express, the coach and the captain, Rohit Sharma were not getting along, just like Ganguly and Chappell. There are a lot of youngsters on the fray. Rohit returning to train with the Mumbai Ranji team reminds of the instance when Ganguly was sent back to domestic cricket to prove his credentials.

The Greg Chappell Era: Off-field Controversies That Hijacked On-Field Prowess

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The Indian team fared relatively well in the initial days of Greg Chappell as the coach. This sounds shocking and might hurt the popular beliefs, but it is true to the core. Team India finished as the runners-up in the tri-series that involved both Sri Lanka and the West Indies. India followed it up with another tri-series against Zimbabwe and New Zealand. The jinx of the finals continued as India faltered against the Kiwis in the summit clash.

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But India did bounce back and defeated Zimbabwe 2-0 in an away Test series. They later defeated Sri Lanka 6-1 in the home ODI series. While the results continued to be impressive, it was Chappell's off-field controversies that bagged all the limelight. Prior to the Zimbabwe tour, Chappell wanted Ganguly to be sacked as the Indian skipper and this incident played an instrumental part in giving birth to one of the most controversial era of Indian cricket.

Chappell vs Gambhir: The Comparison After 19 Matches

Greg Chappell registered 2 Test wins and 11 ODI wins in his tenure from the first nineteen games that he served as Team India's head coach. His win percentage was 68 which to be fair is not at all bad if the controversies are taken into account. Gambhir in the hindsight has won just 3 Test matches, lost 6, 1 ended in a draw. Under Gambhir, India are yet to win an ODI and lose a T20I. Gautam Gambhir's Team India has won, just 9 out of the first nineteen games and his win percentage is 47 as of now. The result of the comparison is scary, but one will hope that the future of Indian cricket is not.