According to a board official, Kumble wanted to have his say on the team selection process as well. (PTI image... Read More

MUMBAI: The Indian cricket board sent out a new media release on Friday evening, extending the deadline for applications for the position of Team India coach , effectively to replace Anil Kumble . The former India legspinner, who had a very successful year with the Indian team, quit this week after a much talked-about rift between him and skipper Virat Kohli . The date for submission of applications has been extended to July 9.

The board believes that not many individuals applied for the position the previous time because Kumble was given a direct entry and they would have felt that the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) would have retained Kumble given his performance. “Now that he's not in the race, we expect more individuals to send in their CVs,” a board official told TOI.

On Friday, even as officials in the board were busy drafting the new statement to be sent out, sources in the know of the Kumble-Kohli fracas admitted that “the entire matter was not handled well at all.”

Little could've gone wrong on the evening of May 25, when the BCCI sent out a statement inviting applications for the position of coach, giving the incumbent a direct entry to the interview process, and stating ­ off the record ­ that the step was necessary despite Kumble doing a “fabulous” job because the contract said so.

However, a board official revealed on Friday that on the day of the Indian Premier League (IPL) final on May 21, when the Committee of Administrators (CoA) met Kumble in Hyderabad to hear out his proposal on player salaries and other mechanisms he wanted to be put in place, “everyone involved had a fair idea of the growing discord between him and Virat.”

In hindsight, said the official, Kumble's reputation dawned upon them. “His approach ­ overbearing and haughty ­was the same when he was talking with the CoA,” he said. The fact that BCCI chose to hand over the mess to the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), asking Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman to first speak with Kumble and Kohli and then sort out the applications and the interview process, turned out to be a blunder of epic proportions.

Speaking with TOI on Friday, an individual in the know of every meeting held between the CAC and Kumble and the CAC and Kohli, said: “It's sad that Virat and members of the team are being made to look like they're undisciplined brats who didn't want a coach who is now being made to look like he was perfect. That's a very wrong perception. It's understandable if BCCI is being seen in poor light given the way this entire matter was handled.”

For the record, 10 years ago, Tendulkar and Ganguly too were at the forefront of a campaign when they did not want Greg Chappell to continue with the Indian team.

Sources close to the Team India camp have the same complaint, first highlighted by Virat in his meetings with the CAC. “He (Anil) wants to be the alpha-male in the dressing room. He wants a say in the playing XI, the reason why he wanted the coach to be a selector too. It doesn't work like that. It's always the captain's team ­ whether it was Sourav or Rahul or MS. And now, it's Virat's,” added the source.

For the record, Kohli sat through a four-hour meeting with the CAC during the Champions Trophy, at a time when he ­ as captain ­ should've been concentrating on the tournament. In those four hours, he spelt out his fears to the CAC, citing why the team didn't need Kumble, his rigidity in certain matters, the overbearing nature and most importantly the way he addressed the players.

Allegations against Kumble

- He wanted a say in the playing eleven. The first crack in the coach-captain relationship came during India’s tour of WI last year.

- Authoritarian and rigid in handling players. Two senior cricketers, who have worked with Kumble in the IPL too, say he’s 'difficult'.

- Kumble was in denial throughout that there was anything wrong with him. It was always the other guy’s fault.

- Refused to come to peace with the idea that this was Kohli's team

