BCCI to blame for Kohli-Kumble rift, board is biased towards Ravi Shastri: Madan Lal

New Delhi: As the Indian cricket team continues to find the perfect coach, the rift between Virat Kohli and former India coach Anil Kumble is still an ongoing issue, despite India’s recent series win against the West Indies.

While few veteran cricketers have opposed the Indian captain insisting that he is enjoying centralised powers, others have pointed their fingers to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for handling the situation in a trivial manner. Former Indian cricketer, Madan Lal says the country’s cricket body is to blame for the entire conundrum.

Lal, who has also coached the Indian team previously, is disappointed with the way the BCCI is handling the selection of the new head coach. He opines that it is incorrect for some officials to impulsively hand former team India director Ravi Shastri the job.

The 1983 World Cup winner has also questioned BCCI CEO Rahul Johri for travelling all the way to Jamaica in order to receive Virat Kohli’s ‘feedback’ on the selection for the coach.

“The way a few top officials in BCCI is backing Shastri to become the coach, one would wonder why they invited applications for the post?” Lal told Xtratime. “Mr Johuri (BCCI CEO) was in England just a few days back where Kohli was present with the Indian team for the Champions Trophy. Did he not have enough time to take Kohli’s opinion then? What was the logic behind going to the Caribbean to take Kohli’s opinion when it could have been taken via a video conference?” he said.

Lal was also taken aback about how the BCCI casually let Anil Kumble resign from the job role, despite Kumble leading India to the no.1 rankings in Test cricket.

“What baffles me is the Indian team did well during Kumble’s tenure, so why was there a need for a change. The bottom line is BCCI did not take the initiative to solve the issue amicably across the table,” he concluded.