Four years after his unceremonious departure, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is considering approaching former Indian captain Anil Kumble to replace Ravi Shastri as the head coach of India post the upcoming T20 World Cup, The Indian Express reported.
Kumble was the head coach of the side before Shastri and had resigned from his post after India lost the ICC Champions Trophy final against Pakistan in 2017.
He had resigned citing a lack of respect in the difference of opinion, followed by complaints about his “style” of functioning by the captain Virat Kohli.
The report also suggests that the BCCI also approached former Sri Lankan captain and the current head coach of the Mumbai Indians in the IPL, Mahela Jayawardena to join Team India. However, the stylish right-handed batsman was not interested in giving up the coaching of the Mumbai side which he would have had to do for the conflict of interest clause in function at the BCCI.
The current stint of India’s head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun and the fielding coach R Sridhar is set to end after the 2021 T20 World Cup and none of them is likely to stay with the team after the global event.
If Kumble is reinstated after T20 World Cup, it will be sort of overruling by the BCCI over Virat Kohli’s captaincy as he had clearly objected to his methods in 2017 and preferred Ravi Shastri in the coaching role.
Kohli has already announced that he will no longer be the captain of the T20 side after World Cup but is likely to continue captaining the side in the ODIs and Tests and the move of bringing Kumble back in the fold could well lead to another friction between them.