A few days before Team India left for England to defend its Champions Trophy title, skipper Virat Kohli sent a text message to Rahul Johri, CEO of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. “He is overbearing,” read the message. The ‘he’ in question: head coach Anil Kumble.
Uneasy partnership: Kohli reportedly feels that his freedom as skipper was being curtailed by Kumble | PTI
Kumble’s approach to players has been described as ‘intimidating’, ‘headmaster-like’, ‘strict’, and so on. Interestingly, most of these descriptions have found their way to the public not through players, as had been the case earlier when there were rifts between players and coaches, but through BCCI officials.
On May 25, nearly a month before Kumble was to complete his tenure, BCCI sprang a surprise by inviting applications for the position of head coach. It gave candidates a week to apply, after which the BCCI’s cricket advisory committee (CAC), comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman, would pick the coach.
Kumble got a direct entry into the pool, but that did not shield the BCCI from stinging criticism. In its defence, the BCCI said that soon after Champions Trophy, the team had to travel to the West Indies for an ODI series. When Kohli was asked about the matter after he reached England, he said, “The process has been followed in the past for so many years, is what I know.”
Rift between a captain and a coach is not new, but the fact that it comes after a super-successful year for Team India has left everyone stumped. Credited with creating a strong bowling department, Kumble has coached India to become the number one Test side. Of 17 Tests in the past season, India won 12, drew four and lost only one.
Perhaps, what goes against Kumble is that he is the target of the BCCI old guard, which blames him for being party to their downfall. The fact that he held discussions with the Supreme Court-appointed committee of administrators (CoA), on matters related to payments that were due to players, has not gone down well with them. Shocked to learn that the BCCI had not paid the players for six months, the CoA had asked Kumble to make a presentation during the final of the Indian Premier League, on revamping the pay structure for international and domestic cricketers.
After the meeting, the CoA reportedly said that the moment a series gets over, the match fees should be remitted to the players’ bank accounts, and the old system of cheques waiting to be signed and countersigned should be scrapped. Apparently, BCCI officials saw this as Kumble “going beyond his brief”. Interestingly, both Kumble and Kohli are on the same page on the matter.
Kohli’s grouses, however, have served Kumble baiters well. Soon after he received Kohli’s text message, Johri informed the CoA of the matter. A member of the CoA talked to Kohli, who remained “adamant”. He reportedly complained that his freedom as skipper was being curtailed by Kumble.
The CoA cross-checked the matter with batting coach Sanjay Bangar, who reportedly gave Kumble full marks for his strategising prowess. On being told that Kohli heeds only to Tendulkar’s advice, the CoA roped in the former skipper, who is also a member of the CAC. Tendulkar talked to Kohli, but the latter stuck to his stand. Apparently, he then indicated to the CoA and BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary to proceed with the decision to invite applications for the position of head coach.
All eyes are now on how Ganguly, who leads the CAC, would handle the matter. And how well Kohli and Co would fare under the hard taskmaster.
