5 current cricket coaches who made their T20I debut as players after Rohit Sharma

Indian captain Rohit Sharma completed 15 years in international cricket today, having made his debut for the T20I team on September 19, 2007, against England.

Since then, Sharma has represented the Indian team in 135 T20I matches, scoring 2,533 runs. He has smashed four hundreds in the shortest format of the game, with his highest score being 118.

Many players have come and gone since Rohit Sharma made his T20I debut. Some of the players who started their T20I careers after Rohit have already announced their retirement and become coaches.

Here's a list of five such players:

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#1 Rahul Dravid - Head coach of Team India

Rahul Dravid played only one T20I match for India (Image: Getty)

Current Indian head coach Rahul Dravid has been an important part of the Indian Test and ODI teams for many years. However, his T20I career lasted only one match.

After multiple Indian players got injured during the 2011 England tour, the BCCI added Dravid to the T20I squad for the only T20I against the home side. Dravid scored 31 runs in that match, which proved to be his last T20I appearance for the nation.

It is interesting to note that Dravid, who made his T20I debut four years after Rohit Sharma, is now the head coach of the Indian team.

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#2 Ashish Nehra - Head coach of Gujarat Titans

Former Indian fast bowler Ashish Nehra surprised the cricket universe with his excellent management in IPL 2022. New franchise Gujarat Titans appointed Nehra as their head coach for the debut season. Although Gujarat did not look strong on paper, Nehra used the available resources to perfection and helped the team become IPL 2022 champions.

Not many fans would know that Nehra made his T20I debut for India two years after Rohit Sharma. His first T20I appearance came in 2009 against Sri Lanka, while he retired in 2017 after a match against New Zealand.

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#3 Vinay Kumar - Bowling coach of MI Emirates

Former Indian fast bowler R Vinay Kumar was recently appointed the bowling coach of the MI Emirates team in the International League T20. Kumar made his T20I debut for India during the ICC T20 World Cup in 2010.

He played nine T20Is for the Men in Blue, with his last game being a T20I against Australia in 2013. It will be interesting to see how Kumar performs as a bowling coach.

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#4 Parthiv Patel - Batting coach of MI Emirates

Another coach of the MI Emirates team to feature on the list is Parthiv Patel. The former Indian wicket-keeper batter was named the batting coach of the International League T20 franchise.

Patel played only two T20Is for India, with both of his appearances coming in 2011. He played three IPL seasons under Rohit Sharma's captaincy from 2015 to 2017.

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#5 Lakshmipathy Balaji - Bowling coach of Chennai Super Kings

Lakshmipathy Balaji played for India along with Rohit Sharma in the T20 World Cup 2012 (Image: Getty)

Another former Indian pacer to be a part of this list is Lakshmipathy Balaji. Having made his debut in 2012, he played five T20Is for the nation. Despite taking three three-wicket hauls in his first five matches, Balaji did not get any more chances to play for the Indian T20I team.

The fast bowler soon retired from all formats of cricket. He now works as a bowling coach for IPL team Chennai Super Kings.