Tag Indian cricket

Do you know Zimbabwe won the first ever one day international they played? defending 239 against mighty Australians? The architect of that 1983 world cup upset was Duncan Fletcher, a left handed batsman plus right arm medium pacer who also happened to be the captain on debut. That day, 9 June 1983, at Trent Bridge, Fletcher scored vital 69 from 84 balls batting at no.6 and then dismissed 4 out of top 5 Aussie batters. This still remains as one of the best individual performances on debut..

Duncan played just 6 ODIs in career and ended up as a one match wonder but as a coach two decades later, he reinvented himself, helping England reclaim Ashes in 2005 after 19 long years and then drawing test series in India which he himself termed "as big as Ashes".

Taking over in 1999 as first foreign coach of England, this Zimbabwean born formed successful combinations with captains Nasser Hussain and then Michael Vaughan and even also foresaw victories in South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Sadly, Duncan's English boys were whitewashed 0-5 downunder followed by mediocre performance in world cup 2007 after which he stepped down from the job.

By now, Fletcher had proven himself as a thinker of the game which South Africans exploited admirably by hiring him as consultant for OZ tour. Result? Proteas became first test team to beat Australia in Australia after 16 years.

Now, on 27 April 2011, Duncan Fletcher was named as the new coach of Indian cricket team, in place vacated by Gary Kirsten after winning the world cup 2011. At 62 years of age, Duncan may be the oldest man ever to coach India but since he doesn't have to run around the field but work behind the scenes, his experience of knowing almost all players at international level currently should come in handy.

India are currently number 1 in ICC test rankings which means Duncan will have the job of maintaining the pride if not turn the team invincible, opposite to what he had to do with England who were lowest ranked when he had taken over. Another challenge for Duncan, apart from constent media attention, will be prove himself as an ODI coach. England remained poor one day side during his tenure and even South African who had hired Fletcher for World cup 2011 campagin had to return home without reaching semi-finals.

Duncan Fletcher has been given 2 year contract by BCCI and he'll take over his new job somewhere from month of June in 2011.

Bowling coach, Eric Simmons from South Africa, got his contract renewed even though Indian bowling hasn't improved in past few years.