Kumble’s tenure as India’s head coach is over

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Anil Kumble has announced that he will be stepping down as India’s head coach after it emerged that captain Virat Kohli “had reservations with my style and about my continuing as head coach”.

Kumble’s tenure as head coach was supposed to come to an end after the Champions Trophy, but he agreed to extend his contract until the conclusion of the upcoming limited overs tour of the West Indies.

Kumble also re-applied for the head coach position, which was advertised by the BCCI prior to the Champions Trophy. Even though he was backed by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), who are in charge of choosing India’s next head coach, he admitted that “it was apparent the partnership [with Virat Kohli] was untenable, and I therefore believe it is best for me to move on”.

Two days before the Champions Trophy got underway in England, reports surfaced that the Indian players were allegedly “intimidated” by Kumble’s coaching style.

However, even though Kohli played down all the speculation, his true feelings about Kumble were revealed when he met with BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary, CEO Rahul Johri and MV Sridhar, who is the general manager of cricket operations, in London on Monday.

Kumble also met with the BCCI officials separately, where he was informed about what Kohli had to say.

“It was not a pleasant meeting,” a board official said. “The CAC is likely to have told BCCI that the differences were not cricketing related but more of a personal nature.

“If he were to stick on, it would be very awkward on Anil’s part. It is not good to handle someone as big as Anil in this manner.”

With Kumble having resigned, the CAC will have to choose a new head coach from the candidates that have been shortlisted for the job, which include Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Richard Pybus, Dodda Ganesh and Lalchand Rajput.

Former Australia bowling coach Craig McDermott also applied for the post, but the BCCI refused to shortlist him as his application arrived after the deadline that had been set.