Team India’s current head coach Anil Kumble is not willing to continue his job, following reports of a major rift between him and captain Virat Kohli. The news, disclosed by sources close to NDTV, also adds that Virender Sehwag could become the next coach of the Indian team. Vinod Rai, head of the Supreme Court appointed CoA, will now approach Kumble in the hopes of persuading him to stay on.
Also read: Ramchandra Guha's letter annihilates MS Dhoni and Sunil Gavaskar, bashes BCCI's 'superstar culture' BCCI’s acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary, as well as BCCI’s general manager MV Sridhar, had a meeting with the Indian team on Thursday, three days before the India-Pakistan encounter in Edgbaston. The meeting was held with the aim of finding out the reason why the players are not content with Kumble, and to suggest a possible solution for the same. Reports state that the CoA is trying all that it can to repair the damages between the two sides, but the issue is ‘almost irrevocable’. Kumble is one of the six candidates listed down by the BCCI, along with Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Richard Pybus, Dodda Ganesh and Lalchand Rajput for the post of the head coach, the last date for application of which was 31st May. Sourav Ganguly, a member of the three-part Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC - also including Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman), reportedly met the Indian team in their hotel in Edgbaston with the motive of extracting feedback from the players regarding Kumble. However, Ganguly categorically denied the reports of a meeting to Aajtak, asking ‘why should I meet the Indian team?’. The stories of rift widened a couple of days back when the Bangalore Mirror carried news that Virat Kohli and Anil Kumble had exchanged ‘cold vibes’ during one of the practice sessions, so much so that Kohli walked out when Kumble entered the enclosure with some equipment.Today, however, Kumble was seen hurling throwdowns at Virat Kohli in the nets, nullifying all reports that the two weren’t meeting each other eye-to-eye. If the reconciliation, at whatever level, does happen, the Indian dressing room would still be at odds, something which Kumble wouldn’t like to be part of at all. Whichever way the story goes, the alleged rift has come at a hopelessly wrong time for the Indian team, who are raring to go all out in England and defend their Champions Trophy title. Also, it is concerning that none of Kumble or Kohli have come out in the open to kill the buzz, letting speculations grow uglier with each passing day.
Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download CricRocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more! 🚀☄️
