'I don’t know if it was beyond repair or not'- Vinod Rai opens up on infamous Virat Kohli-Anil Kumble rift

Spin legend Anil Kumble served as India’s head coach from 2016 to 2017. During his short tenure, India dominated in the home bilateral series, especially Tests, and had made the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. Meanwhile, there were speculations that all was not well between him and the then skipper Virat Kohli as the latter was not convinced with Kumble’s style of coaching.

Ahead of the release of his new book titled  ‘Not just a Nightwatchman: My innings in the BCCI’, Vinod Rai, who was the head of the Committee of Administrators (CoA) in the BCCI, has highlighted what exactly transpired between Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli. At the same time, Rai also added that Kumble’s one-year contract did not have an extension.

Anil Kumble only had a one year contract, says Vinod Rai

“I don’t know if it was beyond repair or not, but it became beyond repair because unfortunately Anil Kumble only had a one year contract. Normally you would have seen with (Ravi) Shastri and Rahul Dravid that their contracts are for two years. Anil Kumble was appointed in July of 2016. It was only in April of 2017 that we got to know that he had only one year contract and that one contract did not even have an extension clause”, said Vinod Rai while speaking to CNN News18.

Vinod Rai also stated that the youngsters felt a bit intimidated in the dressing room which wasn’t a good thing to happen. However, he denied knowing anything specific in terms of Kumble and Kohli’s relation. “It was not so much with Virat Kohli, person to person; but the youngsters who felt a bit intimidated, that is what I have written. Probably because of the disciple that was imposed upon them.

“We got to recognize the fact that in any team, in any game, dissonance in the dressing room is not a healthy thing to happen. Basic energy between the players goes and that team cannot perform well. That is why we had to step in and ensure that this dissonance did not persist over a period of time”, he added.

India suffered a humiliating 180-run loss against arch-rivals Pakistan in the Champions Trophy final. Just days after the tournament, Anil Kumble shockingly resigned from his post and also informed that he would not be traveling with the Indian team for the subsequent limited-overs series in the West Indies. ‘Jumbo’ was then succeeded by the cricketer-turned-broadcaster Ravi Shastri.