When much-publicised spats involving prima donnas of Indian cricket surface, truth becomes the first casualty.
Interpretations, that too pieced together on what those close to the action say without coming on record, is akin to selling a refurbished item in the guise of an original. In this blame game between Virat Kohli and Anil Kumble spun by those who may or may not have an exact view of the picture, one thing that can’t be denied even by the two protagonists, is that the discord between the two is for real.
Newspapers for the past month or so have detailed a picture of mistrust and disharmony that mercifully did not spill on to the cricket field. There is much speculation on what may have transpired, but it has not involved the other playing members of the team or even the support staff. No one in the media has dared to venture into a larger conspiracy theory that would have told us who is for and against whom in the team.
Does this reflect lack of inside information that the media loves to pretend it has, or does it show a certain maturity of the entire team that they have kept themselves away from the whole controversy? When Sourav Ganguly was fighting his battle with Greg Chappell, everything was out in the open. Who said what to whom, which players remained neutral and who was on whose side. It was a war in which the media had a field day, having become a fountainhead of stories that sell and create a greater mess than what already exists.
We still don’t know on what issues Kohli had differences with Kumble. Those in the know aren’t telling you the reasons, except that there were disagreements. The captain, it is said, felt aggrieved. The coach, it is being said, felt there was no problem and that is the reason he declined to sit across the table and sort things out. Going by one account Kohli was willing, and according to some others, he was agreeable to a point but later changed his mind and shut the doors of negotiation.
Some say the seeds of discord were sown right on the day Ravi Shastri was removed and Kumble made the coach. It was a partnership that began on a wrong footing and Kumble’s no-nonsense, school-principal like attitude didn’t help.
Finally, it was left to the advisory committee — Tendulkar, Sourav and Laxman — to sort out this mess. Again according to sources, they tried their best, talked to all the lead characters, including some senior players and came to an inconclusive verdict: Kumble’s tenure should be extended, subject to the problems between captain and coach being sorted out.
All we know for a fact is what Kumble put out on Twitter. Reading between the lines, it becomes apparent that Kumble thinks he was not in the wrong. All he was doing was bringing in all the good management practices that are required to help a team perform. He also writes that he was “showing the mirror” to the players which would have helped them improve their skills. The inference to be drawn is that the image the mirror reflected back was not liked by the players and certainly not by the captain, hence the discord.
Was Kumble overbearing? Was he crossing the line, not respecting the authority a captain, especially in a sport like cricket? There are many serious issues here which need to be addressed, the most important being was a minor bruise deliberately left unattended till it became a terminal wound? Did internal BCCI politics play a role in this captain-coach spat, which does credit to no one.
Unless both sides come out in the open, tell their side of the story, we will continue to speculate and take sides depending on what we are fed. In clashes like these that involve the egos of superstars there will always be multiple narratives and no one definite truth.