The former Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has backed Anil Kumble. the former Head Coach of Indian cricket team saying that he did the best thing in leaving the job with his head high before the board could appoint some other person for the coveted place,
“The CAC (Cricket Advisory Committee) had reposed its confidence in Anil Kumble, and frankly they would have had a lot of explaining to do if they had not reappointed him as the Indian team’s coach. Then the BCCI stepped in and informed Kumble that Virat Kohli had reservations about his style of coaching. So Kumble did the only thing he could have and walked away with his head held high. Kumble could have also stuck around, but in an atmosphere where the skipper and maybe others in the team did not like his method of operating it would have been a tense situation every single hour,” wrote Gavaskar in his column for Sports Star Live.
Gavaskar further questioned players with big stature in the team, by adding that it is always difficult for big players to stay with a team for long because the current players become uncomfortable with the praises which the coach receive,
“The coach’s job should never be dependent on the players’ views, for they would always seek coaches who will listen to them rather than the other way around. One of the reasons why legends don’t stay for long as coaches, especially in India, is because the current players become uncomfortable with the attention that the legend gets, while they sometimes get ignored. Thus the leaks to the media about the coach and his methods, which make the coach’s position untenable, as Kumble found out and mentioned in his letter,” he added.
Gavaskar was one of the few cricketers who stood in favour of Kumble asking if the team needed a coach who would let them ask them to go for shopping? Though Kumble had already resigned from the job just a day after the defeat in the final of ICC Champions Trophy and cited untenable relation with Virat Kohli as the prime reason for his exit.
Kumble though thanked BCCI and CAC but it is learnt that the three-member panel of Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar did not even table a meeting with the coach after Virat Kohli stated that he had some reservations about Kumble’s coaching style. The former leg-spinner left the very next day, despite him bring offered an extension by BCCI for the tour to West Indies. (Read More: CAC Did Not Table A Meeting With Anil Kumble)
There were many speculations over Kumble’s exit, as one theory stated that Kumble and Kohli were not in talking terms from past six months, whereas, other story revealed that the whole team was against Kumble and the ten members whom CAC interviewed batted against him, which ultimately resulted in him giving up the job.
Ultimately, it opened up the doors for the other candidates as earlier when BCCI invited applications for the post of the Head Coach, the board received only six applications with Kumble getting a direct entry into it. Despite that, the former captain again applied for the post but later gave up the job.
Despite Kumble citing the untenable relation with Kohli as the reason for stepping down from the post, Virat Kohli hasn’t said any word regarding this and did his efforts to put sand to matter. When asked about this ahead of the first ODI against West Indies, Kohli said it is important to maintain the sanctity of the dressing room. With this answer, the matter was laid to rest.
Now moving ahead, it would be interesting to see that who all applies for this post, as if Kumble can have this sort of exit, then any of the incoming personality will have a bit of thought in his mind regarding the same. Still, Virender Sehwag leads the race to become the next Head Coach of Indian cricket team and now it will be interesting to see whether Sehwag will now continue to show interest in the job.
BCCI is expected to announce the new Head Coach of Indian cricket before the tour to Sri Lanka.