BCCI panel ignored KohliKumble ‘rift’, conflict issue: Guha
NEWDELHI: Historian Ramachandra Guha has said he was forced to resign from the Committee of Administrators (CoA) to oversee BCCI reforms as the panel had not acted in many issues he had pointed out, including the Anil Kumble-Virat Kohli row.
In a letter addressed to CoA head, Vinod Rai, Guha said: “Sunil Gavaskar is head of a company which represents Indian cricketers while commenting on those cricketers as part of the BCCI TV commentary panel. This is a clear conflict of interest. Either he must step down/withdraw himself from PMG completely or stop being a commentator for BCCI.”
Guha said: “Unfortunately, this superstar syndrome has distorted the system of Indian team contracts. As you will recall, I had pointed out that awarding (MS) Dhoni an ‘A’ contract when he had explicitly ruled himself out from all Tests was indefensible on cricketing grounds, and sends absolutely the wrong message”.
MUMBAI:Anil Kumble appears to have decided to walk away as India coach at the end of the ICC Champions Trophy campaign when his one-year contract will come to an end.
With reports of major differences between Kumble and skipper Virat Kohli having marred the build-up to India’s opening match against arch-rivals Pakistan at Edgbaston, Birmingham on Sunday, there were indications that efforts for any patch up had not borne fruit.
Although the BCCI has given Kumble direct entry while seeking applications for a new coach, it was learnt on Friday that the BCCI may not renew the contract of India’s leading Test bowler despite his doing an excellent job since taking over as India coach in July 2016.
It is understood that given the current mood within the team, Kumble may even opt out of the race at the end of India’s campaign in the tournament in UK. According to sources, after failing in the initial bid to bring about a patch up between Kohl and Kumble, effort currently is on by the BCCI officials in England and the Cricket Advi sory Committee (Sachin Ten dulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman) to keep Kumble and skipper Kohli on the same page till the tournament is over and ensure the two handle the issue in a professional manner
Ramchandra Guha, who resigned from the COA on Thursday, was scathing in his remark with the way Kohli Kumble issue was handled.
The India coach-captain saga has been the talking point in the team’s preparation for the cru cial ICC Champions Trophy.
Former India skipper Nar Contractor said it was mistake to have given only a one-year con tract to Kumble in the first place “What will a coach do in one year’s time? By the time he iden tifies the back-up players and tries to implement his vision, his tenure is coming to an end. A national team coach’s tenure should be a minimum two to three years,” said Contractor.