Gautam Gambhir is India’s worst Test coach in 25 years; even Greg Chappell had better record

Gautam Gambhir's Test coaching record has reached a staggering loss percentage, worse than any modern Indian coach, including Greg Chappell.

For years, Greg Chappell’s name has been shorthand for chaos in Indian cricket. Now, after another defeat in Guwahati, Gautam Gambhir’s red-ball record has gone to a place even Chappell never reached - a Test side losing almost two out of every three matches it plays.

Gautam Gambhir gestures during the practice session ahead of first test match between India and South Africa.(AP)

Strip away all the drama, the noise, and the nostalgia for past regimes. On cold numbers alone, Gambhir’s India in Test cricket is sitting at a loss percentage that no other modern Indian coach comes close to.

Gambhir’s loss rate dwarfs every modern coach

Since the John Wright era began in 2000, India have had seven full-time head coaches before Gambhir. Their Test records, in terms of losses, all live in a relatively narrow band between 5% and 33%. Gambhir is an outlier.

India's record under different head coaches since 2000.(HT)

Under Rahul Dravid, India played 24 Test matches, winning 14, losing 7, and drawing 3 (Win% 58.3, loss% 29.2). Anil Kumble’s short but dominant stint reads 12 wins, 1 loss, and 4 draws in 17 Tests - a scarcely believable loss rate of just 5.9%. Ravi Shastri oversaw 28 wins in 46 Test matches, with a win percentage of 60.87%.

Only Kapil Dev had a worse loss percentage than Gambhir. Under him India managed to win only 1 one out of 8 Test matches.

Fortress to freefall: the home record

The pattern is damning:

India Test series under Gambhir.(HT)

• Home: India have five defeats in nine home Tests under Gautam Gambhir - clean sweeps by New Zealand and South Africa on Indian soil, against just two 2-0 wins over Bangladesh and the West Indies.
• Away: A 1-3 loss in Australia and a 2-2 salvage act in England mean India are still competitive overseas, but nowhere close to the Shastri-Kohli peak.

Put together, this is why critics are calling it a red-ball nadir. In just over a year, Gambhir has overseen more home Test defeats than Kumble, Shastri, and Rahul Dravid managed combined across a decade-long stretch.

On ideas, selection, and dressing-room mood, fans will keep arguing. But if the question is purely statistical - Is Gautam Gambhir India’s worst red-ball coach of the modern era? The loss column has already answered it.