Former India player Suresh Raina applauded former India coach Greg Chappell in his upcoming autobiography, Believe, What Life and Cricket Taught Me. He also highlighted the impact the coach has on the team and how he thought them to win games as well.
The former Australian captain’s coaching tenure with the Indian team lasted from 2005-2007 and it was marred by controversy only. He faced criticism for the way he handled the then captain Sourav Ganguly, who was dropped from the team as well. Raina, meanwhile, revealed how Chappell had a positive influence on the players. The 34-year-old also believes that the seeds of the 2011 World Cup triumph were sown in his era only.
Suresh Raina wrote: “In my opinion, Greg deserves a lot of credit for shaping that generation of Indian players. The fruits of the seeds he had sown were seen much later when we won the 2011 World Cup. I think somewhere along the line, despite all the controversies around his coaching career, he taught India how to win and the importance of winning.”
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Notably, Suresh Raina made his international debut under Greg Chappell’s coaching in 2005. Apart from him, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir also made headlines under the Australian coach and became match winners as well.
However, India was considered nervous while chasing in ODIs during the ’90s and early 2000s, and a batting collapse was common under the pressure. But, under Greg Chappell, Team India emerged as a strong team even when chasing big totals as well. Under Rahul Dravid, India won 14 consecutive games while chasing, which was certainly a great feat for a team that used to succumb and considered poor chasers. And, now the team is known for chasing and win matches as well.
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And, Suresh Raina gave the credit to Greg Chappell for that. “He (Greg Chappell) taught us to chase totals. We were all playing well at that point, but I remember him stressing a lot on breaking down run chases at batting meetings. The credit for that goes to both Greg and Rahul Bhai,” wrote Raina.”Eventually, the batting order was fixed very well —Yuvi, Dhoni and me. By then, we had learnt how to take the pressure as well as the responsibility of chasing and winning. I picked up a lot of lessons from Greg,” Raina further added.
