Bengaluru: A year is a long time in Indian cricket and so is a week. It would have been unfathomable to think of a replacement for India coach Anil Kumble a week ago given the team’s incredible run, albeit at home over the last 10-odd months. But in a swift descent from impossible to incredulous, it appears that there are backroom if not boardroom tactics at play to replace the incumbent.
With the national team set to defend its crown in the Champions Trophy beginning with a tantalising opener against arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday, the team is in need to insulate itself against the off-field happenings. Though the cricket board’s acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary sought to downplay the rumoured rift within the team, namely between Virat Kohli and Kumble, saying “I’m not even aware of it, this is purely speculation,” in Birmingham on Thursday, it didn’t cut ice.
Significantly, it was the also the day when noted cricket historian Ramachandra Guha resigned from the Committee of Administrators (CoA), appointed by the Supreme Court in tune with Lodha panel recommendations.
Guha, part of a four-member committee tendered his resignation to the Apex court citing personal reasons, after a four-month tenure in the job.
Guha’s abrupt decision only sought to add grist to the mill revolving around the coach’s job and with Wednesday’s deadline, the new contenders for the post came to light, pitchforking among others, Kumble’s former team-mate, Virender Sehwag.
Besides the former flamboyant batsman, Aussie Tom Moody and former Pakistan coach Richard Pybus as well as former India ‘A coach Lalchand Rajput and Karnataka’s Dodda Ganesh have thrown their hats in the ring.
The cricket board has maintained that Kumble is an automatic re-entry and given the team’s exceptional performance under his tutleage, it should have been but a mere formality for the former Indian captain to be given an extension. But things are never as simple as it seems in Indian cricket. Sehwag’s entry, given the Delhi connection with captain Kohli puts a different spin to the matter.
The onus is now on the esteemed three-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman to ensure there will be no heartburn between the former team-mates, if they pit Kumble the bowler versus Sehwag the batsman for the coach’s job.
Afghans cancel series against Pakistan
Kabul: Afghanistan cancelled proposed home and away cricket fixtures with Pakistan after a deadly bomb attack, blamed by the country's intelligence agency on militants from the Taliban-allied Haqqani Network, linked to Pakistan's military. Pakistan were set to play their first Twenty20 match in Kabul in July-August.
