It’s the duty of the team manager to convene a meeting between the captain and the coach to pick up the playing XI before the start of the game but this norm was scrapped or we can say ignored during the long home season of Indian cricket team, a report in India Today suggests.
It has been learnt there was a conflict between skipper Virat Kohli and coach Anil Kumble before picking up the final squad before a game which resulted in brewing differences between the two. No meeting was convened during the home season comprising of 13 Test matches and the role of manager was scrapped, due to the disagreement between coach and skipper.
While reports suggest that Kumble backed Pujara during Indies tour of West Indies, he also batted for the inclusion of Kuldeep Yadav in the playing XI for the third Test against Australia at Ranchi. Kohli, though, did not include Yadav in the side but as soon as he got injured and skipped the Dharamsala Test, Kuldeep was handed his debut cap under the captainship of Ajinkya Rahane. This might have been done under influence of Anil Kumble.
With IPL soon after, the news didn’t come out but as soon as Indian team assembled and flew to England for the Champion Trophy, the news of a rift between Kohli and Kumble came out. Though Kohli denied any sort of any rift with Anil Kumble before the game against Pakistan; the damage was already done when BCCI added a pinch of salt by inviting applications for the post of Head Coach of Indian cricket team.
Vinod Rai, the Head of COA called it a regular exercise but there was a glaring lag in this because of the timing when the application was invited, a matter which was mentioned by a former member of COA – Ramachandra Guha. And with reports of BCCI and Virat Kohli themselves asking Virender Sehwag to apply for the post, everything became crystal clear.
Still, Anil Kumble, who was earlier reluctant to continue the job, has applied with a fresh application and is again in the race to become the next coach of Indian cricket team. BCCI is expected to announce the new coach for the side before the end of Champions Trophy and India tour of West Indies will be the first stint of the new coach in the role.