Has Virat Kohli’s Power Made BCCI Toothless?

Jul 22, 2017 at 2:07 PM

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Has Virat Kohli’s Power Made BCCI Toothless?

In last few days, the turmoil surrounding the appointment of Team India’s head coach was doing the rounds before the Cricket Advisory Committee comprising of three former stalwarts Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly decided to elect Ravi Shastri as the head coach and it was apparent that Virat Kohli had a huge say in Shastri’s appointment.

Now the first question which comes to my mind is why did the Supreme Court form the Advisory Committee if their opinions were going to be taken lightly. Despite the fact the CAC appointed Shastri there is a huge cloud over the fact that was Shastri their first choice? Seeing what has transpired in the last few days it is very difficult to accept this fact.

In fact, it was Sachin Tendulkar who convinced Ganguly to go ahead with Shastri as he was the team’s choice and most of the current lot gelled him with well despite the latter being reluctant to elect Shastri. The CAC had also picked Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan as the batting and bowling consultants for specific overseas tours but recently Vinod Rai’s confirmation that the duo hasn’t been given any contract has left everyone in splits. Many have even questioned that is this circus or what?

It is extremely difficult to understand what is going behind the closed doors and what influence Kohli had in all these dramas over the past many days. The talks surrounding a bitter relationship between the then coach Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli surfaced before the Champions Trophy and following India’s loss in the final against arch-rivals Pakistan it was apparent that some big call was to be taken by either the board or by Kumble of Kohli.

According to reports, Kumble had asked Kohli to bat first if India wins the toss but Kohli went with his call which saw India losing the final by a whopping 180 runs. It was a pathetic batting display by the Indians and within a few days, Kumble resigned from his post with immediate effect despite the CAC extending his tenure. Reports also emerged that had Kumble not resigned Kohli would have stepped down from the captaincy?

If a coach can’t have his say then why appoint a coach? Firstly these international stars are already competent enough to play at the highest level and don’t require any special coaching but when a coach is appointed then he must be treated as a coach. A captain is always the Boss in the team but that doesn’t guarantee the fact that the coach can’t ask him to prepare for a specific match in a particular manner. This is why he was getting paid for.

But this current India team needs someone like Shastri who understands the psyche of these players and will allow them to have a ball in the nets. During his tenure as a director, Shastri had developed a great rapport with Kohli which helped him in the selection process. But why did the BCCI didn’t question Kohli that what sort of differences he had with Kumble?

The BCCI has allowed Kohli to have such a big say which honestly isn’t the right move forward. There is no denying the fact that he is arguably the greatest batsman of the modern generation but his arrogance and attitude cannot be tolerated all the time and this time BCCI has played into his hands by allowing him to have a say on all the matters.

As an ardent follower of Indian cricket, I will definitely like to feel that India will perform brilliantly in the coming year or so but somewhere in the mind I have been affected by all that has happened in the last few days. A legend of Kumble’s stature never deserved to resign like this and it was intolerable on Kohli’s behalf to remain silent on that matter until today. It showed the simplicity of the man who had always played the game in the right spirits

The BCCI obviously has a lot of respect for Kohli as the Delhi lad has won innumerable matches for India in his career so far but giving him extra power might not be the right way forward for India. It was unacceptable that Kumble had to leave in that manner and Kohli just had nothing to say. Strange, Pretty strange.

Like Kohli, Kumble had given India and the fans enough moments to cherish and celebrate hence he should have been given the due respect. But all things said and done I will surely hope that India scale great heights in the coming years and all my thoughts take a back seat.

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