Anil Kumble was appointed coach of the Indian team for one year. His term expired after the World Cup in England. Kumble was on the run for an extension and as a stopgap, he was asked to continue with the cricket team tour of the West Indies. It was on the cards that he would be given an extension. Kumble was selected by a committee consisting of Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, and VVS Laxman. All three have a special place in Indian cricket. Unfortunately for Indian cricket, Kumble resigned his post in a letter to the board, citing differences and incompatibility with captain Virat Kohli.
He mentioned that Kohli had "reservations about his style". Kumble has not accompanied the team to the West Indies, the Hindustan Times reported.
Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble is a distinguished spinner. He has over 600 test wickets and is next only to Shane Warne and Muthiah Muralitharan in Crickets Hall of Fame as a spinner. He also had a successful stint as coach of the Indian team. During his tenure, India won 12 of the 18 test matches it played. Though everything appeared fine on the surface, relations between the coach and captain began to deteriorate. We do not know what really happened in the dressing room between Kumble and Kohli but there was definitely a breakdown in communication between the two.
Kohli did not respond
Virat Kohli is the world's top batsman. He is the star player of the Indian team and as captain has lifted the performance of the team. Unfortunately, he was not in agreement with Kumble's thought process for the team. Kohli has not responded to the allegation made by Kumble in his resignation letter. He has said he will never make the goings on in the dressing room public.
This shows a mature disposition but the loser is Indian cricket.
It is obvious to all that Kohli is too big a name at the moment. The board cannot replace him so the only way out was an exit for Kumble. The ace spinner saw the writing on the wall and quit.
The rift
Many rumors are floating about a rift between the captain and the coach.
Probably the last straw was the scolding handed down by Kumble to the senior players in the team for the ignominious loss to Pakistan in the final. The Indian batting put in a pathetic performance with Kohli putting in a poor performance. He was beaten comprehensively in two consecutive balls and despite getting a life was caught off the very next ball.
Future
The Board will now have to scout around for another coach. Ravi Shastri the earlier coach, who has a good rapport with Kohli may well make a comeback. Whoever is the new coach, he will have to understand that the man calling the shots is Kohli. Good or bad, this is a reality.
