3 Important aspects from Greg Chappell’s era that helped India in the longer run

2. Mastery in chases:

By the time Greg Chappell took over as Indian coach, India were struggling in the ODI format especially in the chases. It was the same time where the chasing teams began to win more often in limited-overs. Between April 2003 and May 2005, the chasing teams won 123 ODIs while the teams batting first won 120. In this period, India won as few as five ODIs out of 19 while chasing.

Their win-loss ratio of 0.357 in this span is by far the lowest among the top eight ranked teams at that time. The next worst ratio among the top eight teams is 0.933 of Windies which is still 2.6 times that of India’s. However, while defending a total, India won 17 out of 30 and lost in 11 ODIs. Their win-loss ratio while batting first of 1.545 is the 4th highest among all sides in this period.

Chappell ensured India moved along with the trend of chasing that resulted in them creating the world record winning streak in the ODI format while batting second which is still untouchable in the era of 300+ chases. Between June 2005 and April 2007, the teams chasing won 176 ODIs out of 327 with batting first sides winning 143 games.

During his tenure, India won 21 out of 32 ODIs and lost ten matches. Their record is second best in this period in chases behind Australia’s 23 wins out of 29 matches. However, India were lighter while defending targets in this span winning 11 and losing 17. Their win-loss ratio of 0.647 is 4th best among the Test nations as even other countries struggled to defend at the same time.