Sir — The unceremonious manner in which Anil Kumble has had to step down despite showing his interest in taking Indian cricket forward, shows that all was not well between him and captain Virat Kohli. The difference between the captain and the coach could easily have been resolved if there had been a functioning and efficient cricket administration.
Kumble’s resignation has set a bad precedent, where the captain can take a decision according to his whims and fancies, which could be detrimental to the team. Kumble could have ‘fought’ it out, but probably looked at the bigger picture and realised that team India had, for whatever reasons, become much too small for both him and Kohli.
The job of a coach is to be objective, impartial and pushing players to the limit. A coach cannot be a cheerleader and supporter of the captain and should not agree with whatever the captain says. The best combination of player-coach is when they have healthy discussions and arguments for the betterment of team. Kumble’s pedigree and class cannot be questioned and his departure is a big loss for the Indian cricket team.