Stepping down as the coach Anil Kumble's personal choice, says Sourav Ganguly

When Sourav Ganguly was asked to shed light on the reported rift he replied, "I don’t know. It’s his personal decision. I don’t want to talk about it. It’s a decision of the coach.”

Ganguly is a member of the three-member Cricket Advisory Committee whose other two members include VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar who will choose the next coach of the Indian team. The former Indian captain further said that Kumble's last minute resignation forced the team to play the series against West Indies sans a coach.

“He has resigned at the last minute. It is not possible to have someone (so early),” Ganguly told Hindustan Times.

The Indian team left London without Anil Kumble who stayed back to attend ICC's Annual Conference being the chairman of the Cricket Committee. However, later that day, he stepped down as the Indian coach and cited his 'untenable' relationship with Indian skipper Virat Kohli who had reservations regarding his style of coaching as the reasons for the same.

BCCI on Wednesday confirmed that the team will leave for the Sri Lanka tour with a coach. Earlier, BCCI had invited applications for the post of the Indian head coach after denying Kumble an extension in spite of his almost spotless record with the Indian team. However, Kumble was granted a direct entry into the process which received names of former Indian opener Virender Sehwag, Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Tom Moody, Indian batting legend Lalchand Rajput and Ganesh Dodda.

The BCCI deputed M.V. Sridhar will manage the team for the West Indies tour where the Men in Blue will take on the home team in five ODIs and one T20I starting today.