It Was Anil Kumble’s Personal Decision To Step Down – Sourav Ganguly
Jun 23, 2017 at 10:54 AM
The last few days have been profusely turbulent in Indian cricket, with coach Anil Kumble resigning just ahead of the ODI series against West Indies. Kumble’s resignation has sent shockwaves across the global cricketing fraternity and in a message statement emerging from him, the former leg-spinner apparently hinted at his differences with team captain Virat Kohli as the reason behind the decision.
Kumble’s move to call it quits came despite a huge truce attempt made by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising of Kumble’s former teammates Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. The three members spoke to both the concerned parties and were in the favour of Kumble continuing as India’s head coach. However, all the attempts were rendered futile.
Sourav Ganguly recently opened up on the issue when quizzed by the media, and said that the decision to quit was Kumble’s personal and he wouldn’t want to elaborate on the matter.
“He has resigned at the last minute, it’s his personal decision. I don’t want to talk on this matter,” said Ganguly.
When captain Virat Kohli was quizzed about the same in the pre-match press conference in the Caribbean, he too didn’t fully comment on the matter, but just spoke about his respect for Kumble.
“I have total respect for him as a cricketer and what he has achieved for the nation. All the years that he has played. There’s no taking away that aspect of him at all. And we all respect him totally,” said Kohli.
“Kumble’s resignation is something that has happened right after the Champions Trophy tournament. We have created a culture over the last three-four years that whatever happens in the change room, we’ve tried to maintain the sanctity of the change room throughout,” he said. “That is what the whole team believes in. For us that is paramount. I’ve always respected that and we have continued to maintain that as well,” said Kohli.