It was on the 8th of November 2000 that John Wright's stint as coach of the Indian team began in right earnest. Zimbabwe, touring India to play a two Test and five One-Day series took on an Indian team with a new coach. The former Kiwi skipper took over as coach of the Indian team from stand-in appointee Anshuman Gaekwad. Having coached Rahul Dravid at Kent, and interacted a fair bit with Sourav Ganguly, who was playing for Lancashire, Wright got a taste of what it was like to coach top Indian cricketers. Being selected for the post after Geoff Marsh and Greg Chappell were eliminated, Wright had a tough job on his hands. The soft-spoken Kiwi went about his work methodically and predominantly behind the scenes, in stark contrast to his Indian predecessors. Putting solid drills into place for the players, Wright introduced a system that did not differentiate in any manner between players. One Indian cricketer remarked, "We've never been made to work so hard in our lives".