3 significant achievements by the Indian team under Greg Chappell's tenure as coach
Greg Chappell was appointed as the coach of the Indian Cricket team in the year 2005, after John Wright opted not to renew his term. The Australian was selected as the coach by the BCCI over highly reputed contenders such as Dav Whatmore, John Emburey, Desmond Haynes and Tom Moody.
Chappell's first assignment as coach was the ODI tri-series between hosts Sri Lanka, India and West Indies. Rahul Dravid was the captain for the series as Sourav Ganguly faced a four match ban due to slow over-rate in the previously concluded ODI series against Pakistan at home, that India lost 4-2.
India had moderate success in the tri-series and despite losing the finals against Sri Lanka, Greg Chappell unearthed a few new talents such as Suresh Raina and Venugopal Rao.
However, as time passed by, things started to take an ugly turn as a difference of opinions took place between the coach and few of the members of the team as the players couldn't get accustomed to Greg's coaching style.
Greg Chappell's term as coach ended after India were knocked out of the 2007 ICC World Cup in the group stages, but despite having an unsuccessful term as coach, there were a few achievements by the team that went unnoticed.
So, here we look at 3 major achievements by the Indian team under Greg Chappell's tenure:
#1 Test Series win in West Indies after 35 years in 2006
Team India, under the leadership of Rahul Dravid, toured the West Indies in 2006 for a 5 match ODI series followed by 4 test matches. India lost the ODI series 4-1 and the odds were against them going into the test series.
The Indian team were without the services of Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, and it was a squad with majority of players who were on their first tour to West Indies.
The first three tests ended up being drawn. Jamaica was the venue for the 4th test and India won the toss and elected to bat first. After being dismissed for 200 in their 1st Innings, the bowlers stepped up to the occasion and bundled out the West Indies for a paltry score of 103. Harbhajan Singh was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 5/13 in just 4.3 overs.
In the 2nd innings, India were bowled out for 171 and gave West Indies a target of 269 to win the match, and the series, but West Indies kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were dismissed for 219. Anil Kumble picked up 6-78 in the second innings and India won the match by 49 runs.
With this victory, India not only won the test series but ended a drought of 35 years of not winning a test series in the Caribbean.