Musical chairs with Indian women's cricket team coaches

Over the past decade, the BCCI has played musical chairs with successive chief coaches of the women's cricket team. Since 2014, when former skipper Purnima Rau was brought in, three others — Tushar Arothe, WV Raman and Ramesh Powar – have also coached the side.


Most often, the coaches have exited in the run-up to ICC events. Less than two months before the ongoing Women's T20 World Cup, Powar was moved out and Hrishikesh Kanitkar, first named the batting coach, was eventually made the stand-in chief coach in South Africa.

TOI takes a look at the coaches who were at the helm and then exited suddenly...

PURNIMA RAU: Following India's 2014 T20 World Cup first-round exit, Rau was replaced by Sudha Shah only to be brought back after two series. From 2015-17, India thrived with their first-ever series win over Australia, the Asia Cup title triumph and qualification for the World Cup. But barely two months before the 2017 World Cup, Rau was sacked and Tushar Arothe brought in.

TUSHAR AROTHE: Arothe, an experienced coach and former Baroda player, first came into the set up in 2013 and the tenure lasted a year. He returned to guide the team to the 2017 50-over World Cup final but was again given the short end of the stick and exited the following year.

WV RAMAN: An astute reader of the game, Raman's appointment in 2018 brought about a lot of changes in the team. Under the former India batter, the team reached the final of the 2020 T20 World Cup. Instead of retaining him, the BCCI replaced Raman with Ramesh Powar.

RAMESH POWAR: In 2018, his tenure was marred by differences with then skipper Mithali Raj which resulted in BCCI not renewing his contract. Back with the team in 2021, he guided them at the 2022 ODI World Cup, Asia Cup and Commonwealth Games. He was surprisingly moved to the National Cricket Academy last December.