4 former Indian cricketers who have been with other teams in ODI World Cups ft. Ajay Jadeja

In this day and age of cricket, it is very common to have overseas coaches for the national teams. In fact, most international teams around the world appoint specialist mentors/coaching staff for a major ICC event.

A handful of former Indian cricketers have coached, or been a part of the support staff of other teams and have tasted success.

In this article, we will take a look at cricketers who have previously worked with, or will be working with other teams in World Cup 2023:

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#1 Sandeep Patil-

Sandeep Patil was the coach of the Kenya team that reached the semi-finals of the 2003 World Cup.

Before the start of the 2003 World Cup, Kenya were considered minnows and no one expected the African nation to proceed beyond the group stage. However, Kenya beat Canada, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh in the group stages. New Zealand refused to travel to Kenya and were awarded the necessary points concerning that game.

Four wins in the group stages ensured that Kenya reached the Super Sixes and beat Zimbabwe in the said Super Sixes. They lost to Australia and India, but by virtue of wins against Sri Lanka and New Zealand in the group stages, Kenya proceeded to the semi-finals of the 2003 World Cup where they suffered a defeat at the hands of India.

No non-Test playing nation has reached the semi-finals of a World Cup apart from Kenya and Patil was a huge influence on the African team.

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#2 Hanumant Singh-

Singh was the head coach of the Kenya national team during the 1996 World Cup. Kenya were playing their first ever World Cup and were placed in Group A with the likes of India, Australia, Sri Lanka, West Indies, and Zimbabwe.

Kenya lost four of their five games but their biggest achievement was beating West Indies in Pune during the group stages. After being bowled out for 166, the Kenyan bowlers dished out West Indies for a paltry total of 93 and won the game by 73 runs.

Young Kenyan players like Thomas Odoyo, Maurice Odumbe, Steve Tikolo, and Hitesh Modi benefited a lot under the able guidance of Hanumant Singh and were the pillars of the Kenyan team for the next decade or so.

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#3 Ajay Jadeja-

Ajay Jadeja was an integral part of the Indian ODI team in the 1990s. He represented India in 179 innings of 196 ODIs and scored 5359 runs at an average of 37.22. He played the perfect role of a finisher and was a dangerous batter towards the back end of an innings.

The 2023 World Cup is just three days away and Afghanistan have appointed Jadeja as their mentor for the World Cup. Jadeja will join Jonathon Trott as a part of the coaching staff for the 2023 World Cup.

In the past, Jadeja has coached the Delhi cricket team for a brief period. However, this will be his first experience of mentoring an international team. Jadeja was a brilliant white ball cricketer and his experience of playing ODI cricket and familiar home conditions is likely to benefit the Afghanistan ODI team in the upcoming tournament.

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#4 Sridharan Sriram-

Sriram played 8 ODIs for India from 2000 to 2004 but failed to get a consistent run with the Indian team. He has however enjoyed a successful coaching career with a couple of international teams.

He has been appointed as the technical consultant of the Bangladesh team for the 2023 World Cup. He was appointed with the Bangladesh team in the same capacity for the T20 World Cup 2022 as well.

Sriram was earlier associated with the Australian men's team and was their assistant coach and spin bowling consultant for a brief period of time.

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