New Delhi. Some similarities between New Zealand’s John Wright and South Africa’s Gary Kirsten are surprising. Both were left-handed batsmen and played as openers for their teams. 69-year-old John Geoffrey Wright’s international career lasted from 1978 to 1993, while 56-year-old Gary Kirsten played international cricket from 1993 to 2004.
Both of them have had a connection with the Indian team. Both have been the coach of Team India. Let’s take a look at the similarities related to the cricket journey of these two.
Both scored a century in their 17th test
There was a gap of about 15 years between the cricketing careers of Wright and Kirsten. John Wright played the last international match of his career in March 1993. About 8 months after this, Kirsten started his career in December 1993. Both these cricketers scored their first Test century in the 17th Test. Wright scored his first Test century against India in Auckland in March 1981, this was his 17th Test. Similarly, Kirsten’s century also came in his 17th Test. He scored his first Test century against England in Johannesburg in November 1995.
Both made the same score
Not only this, Wright and Kirsten scored the same score during their first century. Both scored 110 runs during their first Test century and both were caught out. Both played the last Test of their career in New Zealand in March. Wright played his last Test against Australia in Auckland in 1993 while Kirsten played his last Test against New Zealand in Wellington. Incidentally, this was the last international match of the career of both of them.
Wright played 82 Tests and 149 ODIs. During this time he scored 5334 runs in Tests with the help of 12 centuries at an average of 37.82. This Kiwi batsman has 3891 runs in ODIs at an average of 26.46. His highest score in ODIs was 101 runs. Kirsten’s career was more successful than Wright’s. In 101 Tests, he scored 7289 runs at an average of 45.27 which included 21 centuries. In 185 ODIs, this South African batsman has 6798 runs at an average of 40.95 which includes 13 centuries.
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Both took over as coach of the Indian team
After playing cricket, both of them made a career in coaching. Both of them took the post of coach of the Indian team. Wright has the credit of becoming the first foreign coach of Team India. He was the coach of Team India from 2000 to 2005. After the match fixing scandal of the year 2000, the credit of re-establishing the Indian team in world cricket goes to the pair of Wright and Sourav Ganguly. On the other hand, Kirsten took the responsibility of the coach of the Indian team in 2008 and retired after playing an important role in making Team India the champion in the 2011 World Cup. During the coaching tenure of both Wright and Kirsten, the Indian team established itself as the best team in world cricket and won on foreign grounds. Later, both of them also became the coach of their country’s team. Wright took the responsibility of the New Zealand team from 2010 to 2012 while Kirsten took the responsibility of the South African team from 2011 to 2013.
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Both of them led Team India to victory in the ICC tournament
Both Wright and Kirsten contributed in making the Indian team champion in one ICC tournament each. During Wright’s tenure, the Indian team jointly became champion with Sri Lanka in the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy. During the tenure of this former New Zealand cricketer, the Indian team also made it to the finals of the 2003 World Cup but had to face defeat from Australia. On the other hand, Kirsten played an important role in making the Indian team champion in the 2011 World Cup under his coaching.
Under Kirsten’s guidance, Team India achieved the number one ranking in Tests for the first time. He liked to be less in the limelight compared to Wright. Just before the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, Kirsten has been given the responsibility of coaching Pakistan’s ODI and T20 team. However, the Pakistan team failed to perform well in the T20 World Cup and was eliminated in the first round itself.
Tags: Gary Kirsten, ICC T20 world cup, T20 World Cup, Team India
FIRST PUBLISHED : June 19, 2024, 10:51 IST