Over the years, the concept of having coaches has varyingly evolved based on different team cultures. For eg in <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/when-and-where-to-watch-bangladesh-vs-australia-live-streaming-match-preview-timings-and-pitch-report-for-4th-t20i/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australia,</a> often the head coach is the one who helms his cricket rather than a captain, whereas, in the Indian cricket culture, it is the captain that sovereigns the setup.

However, regardless of these varying cultures and the new emergence of other coaching job profiles, a head coach still remains the one who actively has to administer every aspect that is in accordance with the team’s running. Overall they often are the unsung heroes when the team soars along with a baddy if the team fails.

However, a few of them while doing their work have functioned controversially that also had resulted in their unpleasant sacking. Hence in this list, let&#8217;s rank-

Top 10 controversial coaches in the history of cricket

10. Javed Miandad

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-220962" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Javed-Miandad.jpg" alt="Javed Miandad News" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-220962" class="wp-caption-text">Javed Miandad. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)</figcaption>

Just like the current bowling coach Waqar Younis, even Javed Miandad has had at least three coaching stints with the Pakistan team in the past. The cricketer had first established himself as the head coach way back in 1998 and was last shown the door in 2004 when Pakistan had dreadfully lost to India in their own backyard.

However, while his second and the third coaching stints were majorly ceased because of the uncertain and awful performances of the overall side, Miandad had an utterly controversial time while coaching Pakistan during the 1998-99 period.

While being appointed as a head coach back in September 1998, the Pakistan team under Miandad had outstandingly won a Tri-series in India along with a triumph in Asian Test Championship and Sharjah Cup in April 1999. Hence with the team starting as a heavyweight for the 1999 World Cup, a controversial feud amongst the players and Miandad had emerged up just before the team’s departure for the pinnacle event.

Before the start of the World Cup, the Pakistani players had revolted against Miandad which claimed that the coach had made some baseless match-fixing allegations against them during the earlier Sharjah Cup tournament. Perhaps, two senior members of the team had also reportedly threatened the coach with their bats because of an accusation made against them for underperforming.

Eventually, while Miandad did lose his job before the World Cup, the Pakistani legend revealed a shocking claim where he said &#8220;Some years later Saeed Anwar came to me and apologised to me for being part of the campaign against me and admitted that senior players used to instigate the junior players against me,&#8221; he claimed. ”Later on in the World Cup, these same group of players were responsible for the shock defeat against Bangladesh, and then what happened in the final is now part of history,&#8221; he said.

9. Ottis Gibson

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-205630" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Ottis-Gibson-South-Africa.jpg" alt="Ottis Gibson" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-205630" class="wp-caption-text">South African coach Ottis Gibson during the South African national cricket team training session. (Photo by Shaun Roy/Gallo Images/Getty Images)</figcaption>

Ottis Gibson has been a very popular name in the international coaching set up and has got associated with many international teams in the past. For teams like <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/twitter-reactions-mahmudullah-mustafizur-light-up-mirpur-as-bangladesh-script-historic-series-win-over-australia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bangladesh </a>and England, Gibson had served as a bowling coach along with coaching the WI team from 2010 to 2014. However while serving South African cricket from 2017 to 2019, Gibson as a head coach was controversially criticized for his remarks against the retirement of AB de Villiers during the 2019 World Cup.

While in a chat with skipper Faf Du Plessis, AB de Villiers had offered to come out of his retirement only if the Proteas needed him to play the 2019 World Cup, the national selectors along with Ottis Gibson did take a huge dig at ABD by viciously discarding his demands. Specifically, Gibson in a statement had said that “if he wanted to be available for the World Cup, then he would have to make himself available for the home series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, &#8220;and he didn’t.&#8221;

Further, he added that “The door was open till December and after that to come into the piece … he knew that if he really wanted to, he knew that those ten games against Pakistan and Sri Lanka were vitally important for us, since from March to World Cup we won&#8217;t have any more cricket. He knew that, and again, he has made his choice.”

However, with SA then enduring a horrifying campaign in the 2019 World Cup, ABD had eventually issued a statement where he clarified that “I made absolutely no demands at all. I certainly did not try to force my way into the World Cup squad on the eve of the tournament and did not expect to be included. There was no burning issue from my side and no sense of injustice,”

Perhaps when the Proteas head coach had also made some adverse remarks regarding their earlier conversation during ABD’s retirement in May 2018, De Villiers in his same tweet gave a response that “I was unfairly described as arrogant, selfish and indecisive but, with all humility, my conscience is clear. I retired for honest reasons and, when asked if I could be available for the World Cup, agreed to keep the door open. In the event, understandably, the team moved on. No problem. I am not angry with anybody.”

8. John Buchanan

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-527068" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/John-Buchanan.jpg" alt="John Buchanan" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-527068" class="wp-caption-text">John Buchanan. (Photo by Pradeep Mandhani/Getty Images)</figcaption>

Back in the decade of 2000s, John Buchanan was one of the wittiest minds that had shaped up Australian cricket as “The Invincibles”. It was under his reign that Australia also had successfully transitioned from Steve Waugh’s indomitable’s captaincy to Ricky Ponting’s ruthless leadership. However, when it came to helming the KKR side during the initial years of the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/t20/ipl-indian-premier-league/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IPL</a>, Buchanan had to eventually face an ordeal.

His multi-captaincy theory where there will be multiple captains for the same match according to a situation not only made him develop a feud with the former skipper Sourav Ganguly but also made KKR finish at the utmost bottom of IPL 2009. With Brendon McCullum handling the leadership, KKR had only managed three wins along with enduing a string of nine consecutive defeats. Perhaps with having a very contrasting opinion towards Ganguly’s leadership, Buchanan had also developed a fair share of differences with the former skipper during the course of IPL 2008.

Hence with trying to impose his unorthodox way of playing, many other KKR players also seemed to be unhappy under Buchanan’s stint which then immediately brought his sacking after the end of IPL 2009.

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-545260" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Peter-Moores.jpg" alt="Peter Moores" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-545260" class="wp-caption-text">Peter Moores. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)</figcaption>

Peter Moores, who had coached England twice unfortunately had wrangled himself in a controversial feud with the former skipper Kevin Pietersen back in 2008-09. Before the odious incident, Moores was named as England’s head coach right after the 2007 World Cup where England had reasonably performed. While his first year as a coach was a topsy turvy ride, the emergence of KP taking England’s reign in 2008-09 immediately brought in a disliking amongst the two.

While Pietersen as a skipper had to face a horrifying defeat in the tour of <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/england-vs-india-pacers-mohammed-siraj-and-james-anderson-involved-in-a-verbal-spat-on-day-3/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India </a>where England did lose both the ODIs and the Test series, KP was unhappy with the way the training regimes and other strategies were formulated by the coach Moores. Pietersen in a public announcement also had revealed the dispute between the two along with asking ECB to think about Moores’s future role as a head coach. However, the omission of Michael Vaughan from the West Indies tour further erupted the feud between the two, as KP was in dire favour of Vaughan’s selection.

Eventually, while ECB’s investigation on the controversy did result in the sacking of Peter Moores, surprisingly even Pietersen also gave up his captaincy. However, after winning the home Ashes of 2009, KP claimed that without the removal of Moores, England wouldn&#8217;t have been able to beat Australia as the change apparently did bring a better working climate within the squad.

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-168862" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Bob-Woolmer.jpg" alt="Bob Woolmer" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-168862" class="wp-caption-text">Bob Woolmer. (Photo by Tom Shaw/Getty Images for ICC)</figcaption>

Before coaching the Pakistan team, Bob Woolmer had coached <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/we-werent-a-team-ashwell-prince-reveals-he-was-racially-discriminated-by-south-africa-teammates/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">South Africa</a> where he had made them a heavyweight in the ODIs. His innovative coaching style also made the Proteas enjoy the best success rate in the format but an unfortunate exit in the 1999 World Cup eventually brought in his resignation. However, with the Pakistan team facing a dire problem of a head coach from the year 1999, PCB decided to appoint Woolmer as a head coach in 2004.

Woolmer’s stint as a head coach also reinvigorated the Pakistani team especially in the home conditions where they again started beating India and other Asian nations. Both in Tests and ODIs they maintained an impressive record under Woolmer’s presence and everything seemed to be good when the 2007 World Cup had arrived.

However, as we all know, right after Pakistan’s dreadful defeat against Ireland, Woolmer was found dead in his room which initially became a death from a heart attack. Further, while the Jamaican police also had surfaced the case as a potential murder, the final verdict did prove it as a normal death.

Nevertheless, despite the authorities declaring it as natural death, former South African cricketer Clive Rice claimed that Woolmer was murdered by some organized crime groups, saying &#8220;These mafia betting syndicates do not stop at anything and they do not care who gets in their way”. In fact, the former Australian legend Ian Chappell had also gone on record stating that he &#8220;doubts that he died of natural causes&#8221; and speculated that Woolmer may have been about to reveal &#8220;some misgivings”.

5. Ramesh Powar

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-296405" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Ramesh-Powar-1.jpg" alt="Ramesh Powar" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-296405" class="wp-caption-text">Ramesh Powar. (Photo Source: Twitter)</figcaption>

Although Ramesh Powar might be now treasuring his reappointment as the head coach of the Indian Women’s team, the former India off-spinner definitely had endured an ordeal during his first controversial stint. As we all know that Powar was elected as a head coach back in August 2018, his immediate first assignment was to make the Women’s team triumph in the 2018 Women’s World T20.

While everything before the semi-final game looked stupendous especially with the Women team&#8217;s impregnable run in Group stages, the shocking decision to bench Mithali Raj became an utterly controversial occurrence that eventually made the veteran allege that Powar was trying to destroy her career.

By launching a direct attack at the head coach through a letter to the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/bcci-gives-green-signal-for-bubble-to-bubble-transfer-for-ipl-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BCCI</a>, Mithali said that “For the first time in a 20 year long career, I felt deflated, depressed, and let down. I am forced to think if my services to my country are of any value to a few people in power who are out to destroy me and break my confidence.

“For instance, walking off if I am sitting anywhere around, watching in the nets when others bat but choosing to walk away when I am batting in nets if I try to go up to him to talk to start looking into his phone and keep walking,” she wrote.“It was embarrassing and very evident to everyone that I was being humiliated. Yet I never lost my cool,” she added.

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-283215" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Mickey-Arthur.jpg" alt="Mickey Arthur" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-283215" class="wp-caption-text">Mickey Arthur. (Photo Source: Twitter)</figcaption>

Over the years, Mickey Arthur has coached several international teams since the year 2005. Especially from 2005 till 2013, he was the head coach of heavyweight teams like South Africa and Australia, but a controversial sacking in the year 2013 from the Australian board eventually then made him oscillate towards other subsequent teams. While recently he might have been coaching <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/yuzvendra-chahal-and-krunal-pandya-recover-from-covid-19-return-to-india-from-sri-lanka/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sri Lanka</a> after finishing a three-year stint with Pakistan, his omission from the Australian post also has indulged the Australians to sway away from hiring a foreign coach.

Now with his sacking instance being famously known as ‘homework gate’, the entire occurrence had shaped up when Australia was horrifically losing to India during their away Test series in 2013. Right after the first two Tests where Australia had faced a trauma against spin, Arthur decided to give an assignment to all players specifically to come up with ideas that can improve their performances. However, with the quartet of Mitchell Johnson, James Pattinson, Shane Watson, and Usman Khawaja failing to complete the homework, Arthur axed the quartet from playing the third Test in Mohali.

While the homework and the idea of ceasing wickets against spin did completely fail, the axing of the above four players landed the head coach in a hot pan of controversies. Immediately Mickey Arthur was sacked from his position that also then considerably damaged his relationship with the above four cricketers.

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-365093" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Kapil-Dev.jpg" alt="Kapil Dev" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-365093" class="wp-caption-text">Kapil Dev. (Photo Source: Twitter)</figcaption>

Well, unfortunately even our beloved 1983 World Cup-winning captain had to endure an ordeal when the legend wanted to soar team India alongside Sachin Tendulkar back in 1999. During Sachin’s captaincy stint from 1999, Kapil Dev was eventually selected to accompany him as a head coach which sadly was an occurrence to forget.

The duo of Sachin and Kapil had started on an impressive note in the home series victory against New Zealand but very soon the never-ending tour of Australia brought in a string of defeats. India had lost the Test series by 0-3 and had merely won a single game in the Tri-Series. However, the home series defeat where the South Africans had comfortably beaten team India did land both coach and the captain in dire trouble. Especially for Kapil Dev, the road ahead perhaps even got much worse as he landed in a match-fixing controversy after his former colleague Manoj Prabhakar accused him of trying to bribe the all-rounder during an ODI tournament in Sri Lanka in 1994.

However, while Kapil Dev had outrageously then responded to the match-fixing allegations, the all-rounder had also castigated Manoj Prabhakar for his statements. But unfortunately, because of the relentless political pressure, the legend had to resign in the year 2000. Two months later, even the CBI had also then cleared Dev from all charges.

Eventually, while the legend had come out clean from any of the match-fixing scandals, he was largely criticized for his timid approach during his coaching stint.

Even years later when <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/england-vs-india-jasprit-bumrah-pulls-sam-curran-for-massive-six-sachin-tendulkar-terms-it-shot-of-his-life/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sachin Tendulkar</a> had released his book, the cricketer had revealed his disappointment where Kapil Dev had not offered him much support to plan and form strategies.

Here’s what Sachin had written “During my second stint as captain, we had Kapil Dev as our coach. He is one of the finest cricketers to have played for India and one of the best all-rounders of all time, and I had great expectations of him in Australia,” wrote Tendulkar.

“I have always maintained that the coach’s job is an important one, for he is in a position to play a key role in formulating team strategy. Who better than Kapil to come up with options for me during a tough tour of Australia?” he added.

“However, his method of involvement and his thought process was limited to leaving the running of the team to the captain, and hence he did not involve himself in strategic discussions that would help us on the field,” Tendulkar wrote.

2. Anil Kumble

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-349256" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/CT_366142.jpg" alt="Anil Kumble" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-349256" class="wp-caption-text">Anil Kumble. (Photo by Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)</figcaption>

Just like Kapil Dev, even the legendary spinner <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/fantastic-to-see-a-fast-bowler-get-up-there-anil-kumble-congratulates-james-anderson-for-breaching-his-test-record/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anil Kumble</a> had to leave his coaching post because of a controversial feud with skipper Virat Kohli back in 2016-17. While it seemed like a new dawn for team India especially in the Tests matches where India had lost just a single game and had won 12 out for their 17 Tests matches under Kumble’s stint, some players including skipper Virat Kohli seemed to be unhappy with his coaching style.

Right after the infamous final loss against Pakistan in the 2017 Champions Trophy brought in Kumble’s resignation in which he mentioned to BCCI that the captain had reservations with his style of coaching and about him continuing as the head coach. By being felt as humiliated, Kumble had also issued a statement that read as &#8220;In light of these ‘reservations&#8217;, I believe it is best I hand over this responsibility to whomever the CAC and BCCI deem fit.”

Overall, while it was an unpleasant end, even the appointment of the next coach Ravi Shastri had occurred controversially especially when the former India cricketer Virender Sehwag had expressed his disappointment regarding the unfair selection process.

1. Greg Chappell

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-276392" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Greg-Chappell.jpg" alt="Greg Chappell" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-276392" class="wp-caption-text">Greg Chappell. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)</figcaption>

Well in the early years of the 2000s, the former India head coach John Wright had worked and gelled tremendously well with team India that again led the BCCI to search for a foreign coach. While there might have been other prolific options to pick and choose, skipper Sourav Ganguly seemed to be reluctant to bring Chappell as the next head coach.

Also, with the story first unfolding itself when skipper Ganguly had travelled to <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/when-and-where-to-watch-bangladesh-vs-australia-live-streaming-match-preview-timings-and-pitch-report-for-4th-t20i/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australia </a>for the 2003-04 tour, it is believed that Chappell had given Ganguly a plethora of recommendations along with some technical suggestions regarding the skipper’s own batting that eventually had made Ganguly score some exceptional runs. Overall, while the Indian team surely had etched one of their best away tours, skipper Ganguly after using Greg Chappell’s advice got utterly convinced regarding the Aussie&#8217;s appointment.

However, as it is known that the skipper eventually had dug his own grave, Greg Chappell had immediately started attacking Dad and his fruitful captaincy.

In a nutshell, Chappell asked Ganguly to step down from the captaincy along with issuing a statement that meant India should field their best XI although at the expense of Sourav Ganguly. Later on, when Dada had openly confessed about getting pressurized to leave the captaincy, Greg Chappell had responded with an email to the BCCI in which he clearly stated that Sourav Ganguly is both physically and mentally unfit to lead team India further.

Eventually, while his feud with Dada had resulted in an omission where Ganguly was abhorrently dropped from the team, even the other players seemed to be unhappy under the Aussie’s overall regime. From players like Virender Sehwag criticizing the coach for tweaking his overall technique to Sachin Tendulkar expressing his disappointment regarding his batting positing, perhaps almost every senior member of that team seemed to have got displeased with Chappell’s controversial style of coaching.

Coaches who went on to be controversial in their journey with the teams.

Ranking top 10 controversial coaches in cricket history

Often the head coach is the one who helms his cricket, whereas, in the Indian cricket culture, it is the captain that sovereigns the setup.