"Partnership with Kohli was untenable" reads Kumble's statement
Anil Kumble has clarified his stance on Virat Kohli and said that his equation with the Indian skipper was untenable. The former Indian skipper said that Kohli’s reservations with his style of functioning and his continuance as head coach influenced him to step down from his position.
Although stories have been doing the rounds over Kohli’s misgivings over Kumble’s approach for the better part of three weeks now, Kumble said that it was only on Monday that officials of the Indian board made the captain’s displeasure known to him, as reported by Wisden India.
Moreover, Kumble explained his decision to step down a little over an hour and a half after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said through a press release that Kumble had withdrawn from the post of head coach.
Kohli and Kumble came face to face with each other on Monday in the presence of Amitabh Choudhary, the acting secretary of the BCCI, Rahul Johri, the BCCI CEO, and MV Sridhar, the BCCI general manager of cricket operations. And it was after – or during – that meeting that Kumble made up his mind to not continue as the head coach, though the news had been leaked before the 46-year old communicated his decision to the BCCI.
Kumble’s decision to step down does come as a surprise given that Kohli had at the start of the recently concluded Champions Trophy ruled out any differences with the coach. This point was further reiterated as Kumble re-applied for the post of the head coach on May 30th. However, it has been
Under Kumble’s stewardship, India enjoyed a hugely successful home Test season wherein they registered wins over England, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Australia, thereby sealing the top spot in the ICC Test Rankings. Moreover, India even finished the recently concluded Champions Trophy as the runners-up after losing the final to Pakistan by 180 runs on Sunday at the Oval in London on Sunday.
You can read Kumble’s letter here:
Thank you! pic.twitter.com/eF5qVzdBRj
— Anil Kumble (@anilkumble1074) June 20, 2017