Dressing room was never tensed under Kumble, says Wriddhiman Saha

Saha feels that Kumble's presence did not affect the dressing room one bit

What’s the story?

In a recent interview with Cricbuzz, Wriddhiman Saha sounded pretty positive about Anil Kumble's presence and the impact he has had on the players. “He was quite frank about his views and I never felt that the dressing room atmosphere was tense under him. We shared a very open relationship,” he said.

Saha also mentioned how the former leg-spinner guided and groomed the other team members in developing their skills. “Kumble was all about technical inputs. He told me to change my stance a bit and it helped immensely. At this level, the coach cannot teach you everything. But then, his role becomes important from the outside.

Often, the players would react in the heat of the moment and might not be able to execute the plans. So Kumble used to analyse our mistakes and gave us inputs on where we could improve,” the wicketkeeper-batsman added.

In case you didn’t know...

The feud involving the former coach Kumble and the Indian captain Virat Kohli is now an open secret. Kumble stepped down from his role just three days before the Indian team’s tour to the West Indies.

After a whole lot of speculation, Ravi Shastri was appointed as the head coach of the Indian national cricket team.

The heart of the matter

After the initial miscommunication between Kohli and Kumble, things never turned for the better between the two Indian stalwarts. Kumble was quoted saying that as per the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Kohli had inhibitions about his mentoring style and also his term as India’s coach.

After Kumble’s resignation, Kohli deleted the tweet which he had sent out on 23rd June, 2016 regarding Kumble's appointment as the coach.

It is rumoured to have all started when Kumble was suspected of leaking the Indian team’s conversation to the media on WhatsApp.

What’s next?

India will be playing 3-Tests, 5-One Day Internationals and a one-off T20 in their Sri Lanka tour. After a pretty average tour of the Caribbean, India will be looking to display better performances on the field this time around.

The tour will be Ravi Shastri’s first as India’s head coach and he would want to kick-start his tenure on a positive note.

Author’s take

Kumble’s decision to step down showed the maturity and the composure he possesses. It’s understandable that two people from different eras have differences in opinion. The situation could easily have turned for the worse had he continued in his role.

Shastri, on the other hand, had previously been the director of the national team. It will be interesting to see how he brings all that experience to the fore in his new role with Team India.