All is well with Indian Team?

Gavaskar plays down Kumble-Kohli rift

Playing down the rumoured rift between India captain Virat Kohli and coach Anil Kumble, legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar said  that some amount of misunderstanding between captain and coach is understandable.

“You will never have a situation where the captain and the coach in any country are on the same page. There will always be a little difference of opinion. The coach is invariably someone who belongs to an earlier generation or the just finished generation,” Gavaskar said at an event here.

“So the thought process, the approach, the attitude towards the game is slightly different. “It might not be something actually happening on the field. It could be something to do with practice sessions or team combinations. I don’t think that should be taken too seriously because these discussions are healthy for the team,” he added.

When reminded that Kohli enjoyed excellent relations with Kumble’s predecessor Ravi Shastri, Gavaskar said: “I’m sure if there were any difference they probably did not come to the fore.”

Bhajji backs Kumble

Harbhajan Singh has come out in support of Anil Kumble. “He’s strict, he responds to hard work more than talent. As a coach, he’s going to bring a lot of good to Indian cricket,” said Harbhajan. The off-spinner said Kumble is not a sort of a person who will have issues with players. “If someone has issues with Kumble, he should go and talk to him. He can’t have issues with anyone.”

“Only present players will be able to tell what his relations with Anil bhai are,” Harbhajan said at a conclave in New Delhi. “In my 15 years of playing with him, there has been no instance of any fight with him and he’s the best bowling mind in cricket, he’s always there to help.

“He’s been brilliant and he has played a major role in making me what I am today and I would like to thank him for that,” said Harbhajan further.

The impressive performance of the Indian team under Kumble in the past one year speaks for itself, said Harbhajan. Speaking out of his own experience, the off-spinner said Kumble is not that sort of a person who will have issues with the players.

“I am not a part of this team so I don’t know how Anil Bhai is running the team and I don’t talk to players about what is going on and all.

“If someone has issues with Kumble, he should go and talk to him because he’s a person of respect and as per my experience, he can’t have issues with anyone.”      “Conversation is the key to solving the issue, if there’s any. He’s someone who’s at the top and there’s no one who can fill his shoes easily,” Harbhajan added

The Indian cricket board (BCCI) received a few applications forr the post of India’s head coach. As per reports in Indian media  Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and Ravi Shastri – their names were doing the rounds as potential candidates – haven’t applied for the job.

The applications, which have been marked to BCCI joint secretary Amitabh Chaudhary and CEO Rahul Johri, haven’t been opened yet.  Both Chaudhary and Johri are in England now.  The applications will be first scrutinised by Chaudhary and Johri, and then the names of suitable candidates will be forwarded to the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC). CAC will conduct interviews on June 5 and 6 in London. For the record, it was CAC that made Kumble apply for the job last year.

It would be interesting to see if Kumble wants to carry on if there’s indeed a rift between him and Virat Kohli. According to a BCCI insider, Tom Moody could be one of the applicants. In case Kumble opts out, Moody could become one of the front-runners for the job. Moody, the head coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL, had applied for the job twice in the past without success. On the first occasion, Ravi Shastri was preferred to him; and on the second, Kumble beat him in the race for the top job.

According to reports, Kohli and some senior members are unhappy with Kumble’s style of functioning and the skipper made this clear to the Committee of Administrators (COA) before flying out to London for the Champions Trophy.

The reports said that Kohli cited a few instances where Kumble either interfered in matters pertaining to team selection by overruling the skipper’s decisions or pushed the players too hard during practice sessions.