Modern day India cricketers are usually haughty and arrogant with big egos. There can be exceptions, but in most cases these traits sum them up. With fame, money and brand value, they sometimes even try to assume the stature of demigods, which was not the practice even a few decades ago. Back then, the Indian cricket board (BCCI) was able enough to put cricketers in place, at the slightest hint of protest against the system.
Take for instance the Sourav Ganguly–Greg Chappell saga of 2005. The captain had to go. Not anymore. By ensuring that the disciplinarian Anil Kumble doesn’t continue as coach, Virat Kohli has shown the world how powerful the India captain is. To confirm that the bad blood between the two is more than what we know, the Indian captain apparently deleted a message from his Twitter handle, welcoming Kumble as coach shortly after his appointment last year.
We don’t know what transpired between the two over the year, but by deleting the message Kohli has announced to the world that he and Kumble are definitely not enjoying the best of relationships. ‘Untenable’, as Kumble mentioned in his parting letter, it certainly is.
The spat smacks of outright rejection of authority and this entire episode is only likely to tarnish Kohli’s image. We don’t know the whole story yet. But what Kohli has done does not reflect well on the BCCI. But the board officials may disagree and say that the court-appointed committee of administrators is in charge and leave the matter in their court.
The Indian captain apparently did not like Kumble’s style of functioning. Knowing Kumble, he must have been a stickler for rules and Kohli, a new captain, didn’t like someone too intrusive or over-bearing. He would have liked more freedom. At the same time, he couldn’t have denied that with Kumble as coach, his team had a run of success that has few parallels in India’s cricket history.