Rai plays down exit of coaches

New Delhi, July 17: Committee of Administrators (CoA) chi ef Vinod Rai on Tuesday played down the recent trend of senior players influencing the future of coaches in Indian cricket, saying “there was nothing new in it”.

Indian women’s cricket team coach Tushar Arothe’s stint ended after his position became untenable due to alleged differences with some of the senior players, including T20 skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who had protested against his training methods.

This is the second time during the CoA tenure that a national coach has stepped down after players’ revolt. Last year, men’s team head coach Anil Kumble resigned after his much-publicised differences with captain Virat Kohli.

“This has been going since the time of Greg Chappell and Sourav Ganguly. This is nothing new,” Rai told after a COA meeting here.

Both Kumble and Arothe did a good job but could not continue because a f e w influential players wanted their ouster.

While the captains had their way in Kumble and Arothe’s case, Ganguly was removed as skipper when Chappell was coach before the Australian was forced to step down himself after losing the trust of the players.

Kumble’s resignation came in the wake of reports claiming rifts between him and Kohli, and just two days after India’s embarrassing loss to Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy final last summer.

Even as Kumble chose to stay silent on his controversial stint with the team and especially his rapport with skipper Kohli, Arothe blasted the senior players’ attitude.