Last year the Indian cricket faced a controversial chapter when the former Indian coach Anil Kumble had to step down and now it reopened with the CoA member Diana Edulji revealing that the BCCI had “broken rules” while appointing Ravi Shastri as a replacement. Edulji said that the Indian skipper Virat Kohli constantly sent messages to BCCI CEO Rahul Johri about Kumble, which eventually lead to Kumble’s resignation.
Kumble deiced to gave up his job as the head coach after serving down for a year as he was told by the BCCI that Kohli had “reservations” with his style of coaching and over him continuing in the role. However, Kumble’s contract was about to be coming to an end after the 2017 Champions Trophy. The BCCI had already started seeking for his replacement when India landed in England for the Champions Trophy.
Anil Kumble was one of the six applicants after the BCCI said he would be a “direct entry”. The entire process took place under the guidance of the CoA and the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and VVS Laxman. At the behest of the CoA, the CAC met Kohli to patch up the differences in a friendly manner but failed.
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Nonetheless, the CAC informed the BCCI that they are willing to prefer Kumble. Consequently, the BCCI extended the deadline and that is when Shastri applied and was finalized as the head coach till the 2019 World Cup.
Recently, Edulji Edulji has now said that the entire selection process was fraught. Edulji’s revelations come as part of her disagreement with Vinod Rai over the appointment of an ad-hoc committee to pick the India women’s team head coach. While senior players like the T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana requested the CoA and BCCI to continue with the interim coach Ramesh Powar, Rai said players cannot pick coaching staff through votes.
Miffed at that comment, Edulji pointed to the example of Kohli playing the decision-maker during Kumble’s standing down. She wrote to Vinod Rai, “Virat did not accede to Kumble continuing in spite of CAC saying so then why not these two players get what they feel is best for the team. I see nothing wrong in women cricketers writing emails reg the coach. They were truthful in expressing their views, unlike Virat who frequently sent SMS’s to the CEO on which you acted and there was a change in the Coach.”
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She further added, “There also I had objected and my dissent is recorded when the timelines were extended for someone to apply as he didn’t apply in time. Mr. Kumble a legend in his own right was subjected to loss of face and made to look like a villain, he was gracious enough to move on for which I respect him. There also rules were broken and I had raised objections back then.”
In his response, Rai admitted Kohli’s hand. He said that there were differences between Virat and Kumble and as a consequence of that Kumble stepped back.
