Anil Kumble steps down as India head coach

Anil Kumble stepped down from the position of Indian Cricket team’s head coach as the Indian team left for the West Indies to take part in the 5-match ODI series.  According to reports, Kumble did not want to renew his contract and today was the last day of his one-year contract with the BCCI. 

The former captain did not travel with the team to the West Indies and stayed back in London to take part in an ICC meet. The official reason was given that Kumble was required to stay back for the ICC ‘Annual Conference’ since he is the chairman of the Cricket Committee which is in charge of taking a call on laws and regulations of the game.

Before the Indian team left for the Caribbean, Virat Kohli met the BCCI top brass which also included Anil Kumble.

This meeting was forced as the Cricket advisory committee comprising Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, and Saurav Ganguly failed to reach any sort of consensus on the issue.

The BCCI official said that the meeting was not a pleasant one and captain Virat Kohli was not willing to budge from his position which might have forced Kumble to resign. 

India have enjoyed a stellar run under Kumble and dominated all 3 formats of the game. The Virat Kohli-led team became the number one Test team under Anil Kumble but owing to the uneasiness of the players under the coach, the BCCI had to make a final call. 

The BCCI has not yet named any replacement and there are reports that Sanjay Bangar will take charge of the team on an interim basis. 

This recent development establishes the fact that the alleged rift between coach Kumble and captain Kohli were true after all and according to reports doing the rounds, the relationship between the duo had reached a point of no return.

Earlier, the BCCI too had decided not to renew the contract of Kumble and invited fresh applicants for the post.

Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag was one of the applicants who applied for the post. Other candidates include the Australian Tom Moody, Englishman Richard Pybus, former Indian fast bowler Dodda Ganesh and former India A coach Lalchand Rajput.

The BCCI on its part decided to ease the tensions as the joint secretary Amitabh Chaudhary denied any sort of rift between the coach and captain.

Clearly, the effort did not bear the desired fruits.