Madan Lal is angry with BCCI; says officials are partials towards Ravi Shastri

The rift between captain Virat Kohli and ex-India coach Anil Kumble sparked a debate among veterans of Indian cricketers. While some opine that Kohli is enjoying centralised powers, others feel that the issue could have been handled in a more mature way by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Former cricketer Madan Lal also feels the same and blamed the BCCI officials for the entire fiasco.

Lal is not happy with how the Indian board is handling the selection of the new head coach. He feels that it is wrong for some of the officials to blindly back former Team India director Ravi Shastri for the post. The 1983 World Cup winning cricketer also questioned BCCI CEO Rahul Johri for travelling all the way to the Caribbean for getting Kohli’s ‘feedback’ on the coach selection.

“The way a few top officials in BCCI is backing Shastri to become the coach, one would wonder why they invited applications for the post?” Lal told xtratime. “Mr Johuri (BCCI CEO) was in England just a few days back where Kohli was present with the Indian team for the Champions Trophy. Did he not have enough time to take Kohli’s opinion then? What was the logic behind going to the Caribbean to take Kohli’s opinion when it could have been taken via a video conference?” he further added.

Should not have let Kumble go 

Lal is also surprised that even after the Indian team performed so well under Kumble, regaining the No. 1 spot in Tests, how could the board simply let him go?

“What baffles me is the Indian team did well during Kumble;s tenure, so why was there a need for a change. The bottom line is BCCI did not take the initiative to solve the issue amicably across the table,” he concluded.