New Delhi: India captain Virat Kohli has deleted his year-old tweet welcoming Anil Kumble’s appointment as the national cricket team coach, further exposing the bitterness that had crept in.
Kohli deleted the post close on the heels of the spin legend’s decision to resign from his post due to ‘untenable’ differences with the captain.
Soon after Kumble’s appointment, Kohli had tweeted June 23 last year, greeting him with a smiley and expressed hopes of a great future under his guidance.
“Heartiest welcome to @anilkumble1074 Sir. Look forward to your tenure with us. Great things in store for Indian Cricket with you??” Kohli had posted on his official twitter handle, which he has deleted now.
Although the BCCI cricket advisory committee (CAC), comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, wanted him to continue but Kumble relinquished his position. According to reports, Kumble and Kohli had a major fallout in the beginning of the year and were not on talking terms for the last six months.
The situation worsened further after India’s humiliating loss to arch rivals Pakistan in the Champions Trophy final. In his team talk after India’s defeat, Kumble had lashed out at pacer Jasprit Bumrah for his no ball early in the innings during Pakistan’s batting. It enabled Fakhar Zaman to go a hit a match-winning century. This also did not go down well with Kohli who did not want his teammate to be termed ‘a scapegoat’.
If sources are to be believed trouble between the two was brewing from the days when Kumble was appointed mentor of Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kohli was a star cricketer of the same team. Things turned sour then also because of Kumble’s emphasis on discipline. So when the two united for the national side many termed it as ‘unhealthy marriage’.
Intially all was hunky dory. However, during the home series against England, the coach-captain feud started taking an ugly turn. Kumble allegedly expressed displeasure about some of the bowling changes made by Kohli during the Tests. He also wanted to have a final say in team composition which Kohli vehemently objected to it.
Things turned from bad to worse after India suffered a humiliating defeat against Australia at Pune on a ‘turner’. Instead of sharing the blame, Kumble allegedly told the media ‘that he had nothing to do with the nature of the pitch and it was on somebody else’s insistence that the turner had been prepared’. This shirking of responsibility by the coach irked Kohli.
Then in the fourth Test against Australia at Dharamsala in March this year, Kohli had to sit out because of injury. Even though, he wanted a batsman in his place, Kumble went ahead and included Kuldeep Yadav in the final XI. It was another nail in the coffin between the two. The seeds of disbelief had by then grown into a mammoth tree.
Kohli met the CAC members a day after the Champions Trophy final. He made it clear that Kumble was ‘invading his territory’ and was ‘ordering’ the team around. The CAC realised then that the partnership did not have any future.
PNN & Agencies