Anil Kumble-Virat Kohli spat: Kuldeep, Karun selections were flashpoints

The Indian team took the field in the first One-day International against West Indies here on Friday, for the first time without Anil Kumble in the coach’s seat. Skipper Virat Kohli oversaw everything in the lead-up to the match, including explaining the team sheet to the match official even as he directed one of the team members through some routine.

In modern day cricket, the captain’s job has been made a lot easier with a retinue of staff taking care of little, less important details.

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It seems, however, that Kohli wants to lead the team from the front, in his own way, and doesn’t mind the stress that come along with taking on extra responsibility. Speaking to the media on Thursday, Kohli said he is ready for some grey hair while handling the Indian team’s responsibilities.

Selection, remuneration issues

On Thursday, the India captain had expressed his disappointment with the way Kumble had made the rift known through social media, catching the team unawares with his outburst even as it was gearing up for the tour of the Caribbean.

As per sources, there were a variety of factors that led to differences emerging between them. For long, the Indian captain says he had kept a lid on that.

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However, it has now emerged there were a variety of issues, including differences over players’ selection and remuneration. In fact, it has been learnt that Kohli had been left unhappy over Kumble reportedly not keeping his word and backtracking over issues involving players.

Asking for too much

One of issues was that Kumble had been demanding as much money as a Grade A player’s total remuneration, which came to about R9.5 crore. Although there had been reports that the coach wanted R7.5 crore, a 1 crore increment over the R6.5 crore he was already getting, it has been learnt that he had increased the demand and that didn’t go down well with Kohli.

That apart, there were issues over selection of players. Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav, who made his Test debut in Dharamsala against Australia, was the bone of contention and it has been learnt that Kohli had been pushing for his name even as coach Kumble was objecting to his inclusion. Kumble, it is learnt, had been pushing for Karun Nair, who was struggling against Australia, and that reportedly didn’t go down well with the India captain.

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Kuldeep’s inclusion at the expense of the experienced Ravindra Jadeja in Friday’s first ODI at the Queen’s Park Oval game lends credence to the theory that he had Kohli’s backing.

Kumble reportedly was one of the players who had forced the departure of Kapil Dev as team coach in the late 1990s.

Both Kumble and Kohli are or have been involved with player management companies leading to issues of conflict of interest.