VVS Laxman was disappointed with the unceremonious ouster of coach former Anil Kumble and denies his Test place was under threat and maintains he didn’t cook up the Blewett story. However, not too many players had spoken openly about the relationship between Virat Kohli and Anil Kumble in public.
VVS talks about Kumble’s ouster
Meanwhile, VVS Laxman was Kumble’s friend and was also his India teammate. He, however, did not hesitate to touch upon the delicate matter. Otherwise exhaustive in his answers, Laxman was quite concise and to-the-point though during an interaction with Mirror yesterday.
“It was unfortunate,” he said, while talking to this paper ahead of the launch of his book, 281 and Beyond, in the city. “l thought it could have been managed much better. There is no doubt about that.”
However, VVS was one of the very few to have commented on the matter after Kumble’s exit from the Indian team after the 2017 Champions Trophy.
Moreover, the right-hand batsman also spoke about his disappointments in the white-ball career. Laxman talked about the Eden Test epic, refusal to open in Tests, and Sandeep Patil’s contribution to his career. In addition to, former Australian cricketer, Greg Blewett also denied the comments published in Laxman’s book. Blewett also told VVS Laxman to be careful of Chappell after he was appointed as Indian coach.
“There is no need for me to lie. It was a conversation I had,” Laxman said after the Aussie virtually accusing him of fabricating a story.
Furthermore, the 44-year-old faced a pointed question about an Australian telling this reporter that Chappell had saved his place in the team.
The then captain Sourav Ganguly was allegedly against the matter. To be precise, the incident had taken place in a hotel room in Zimbabwe when Chappell brought both Ganguly and Laxman together for a chat. VVS Laxman denied his position in the side was under threat.
“There was a conversation involving Sourav, Greg and I in my room. It happens on every tour. I got a century, and so did Sourav (in Bulawayo), but it’s not true that he (Chappell) ensured my inclusion.”
I had thought of quitting white-ball cricket
VVS Laxman also reiterated that he was distraught as he missed out the 2003 World Cup. He said he’d contemplated quitting the game and would not blame anyone for the matter. The Hyderabadi man had played 134 Tests and 86 ODIs scoring 8781 and 2338 runs respectively.