Debutants under Greg Chappell: Where are they now?
- Unexpectedly, there are some pretty big names in this list.
It was in May 2005 that the Board of Control for Cricket in India decided to rope in former Australian captain Greg Chappell as the coach of the national team. The Aussie had big shoes to fill in as he was replacing John Wright, who had enjoyed a successful stint with the Indian cricket team for a few years. Wright had decided not to renew his contract and the then-captain Sourav Ganguly was also keen on having Chappell on board.
The recruitment was seen as one which would change Indian cricket for the better. But as we all know in hindsight, it is exactly the opposite that happened. Chappell and Ganguly were never on the same page and a few months after the Aussie's appointment, the iconic left-hander was sacked as skipper.
The sacking hurt the morale of the team, and India went into the 2007 World Cup a disorganised side with Rahul Dravid as the captain. It showed in their performances too as they crashed out of the quadrennial event in the group stages owing to losses against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
The whole team faced a lot of criticism after the debacle in West Indies, and Chappell resigned from his post after being put under a lot of pressure. But there were some players who made their debuts in the Greg Chappell era; a few of those went on to make it big while the others faded into the darkness without leaving a mark.
Here's a look at what those debutants are up to now:
#9 Wasim Jaffer
The Mumbai batsman was a talisman for his domestic side in the Ranji and Duleep trophies way back in 2006. He made his debut in One-Day Internationals that year but managed to play only two. He could amass just 10 runs from those games at an average of five, and never ever played in a One-Dayer again.
Nowadays Jaffer plies his trade for Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy. He is presently 38 and might retire soon. Also noteworthy is the fact that Jaffer played in 32 Test matches for India scoring 1,944 runs, with the highest score of 212.
