After India cricket coach Anil Kumble stepped down from his position following a widely-speculated feud with captain Virat Kohli, several members of the sporting fraternity expressed their disappointment at his exit from the team.
Kumble himself admitted the confirmed speculations that he had quit following a feud with Kohli. He posted on Twitter:
"I was informed for the first time yesterday that the Captain had reservations with my 'style' and about my continuing as Head Coach. I was surprised because I had always respected the role boundaries between Captain and Coach. Though the BCCI attempted to resolve the misunderstandings between the Captain and me, it was apparent that the partnership was untenable... I see the Coach's role akin to 'holding a mirror' to drive self-improvement in the team's interest."
Here's what the sports fraternity had to say:
Sunil Gavaskar:
"So you want softies. You want somebody to just tell you, 'OK boys, don't practice today because you guys are not feeling well, take a holiday, go shopping'. If you're complaining about a hard taskmaster who has got you results, those players are the ones who should be left out of the team."
Virender Sehwag:
"I have never played under Kumble – the coach. However, he has been my senior, my captain. In fact my comeback in international cricket was under him. The Indian team's performance under him has been phenomenal. Whoever comes in as his successor will find it hard to fill in his shoes."
Michael Vaughan:
Abhinav Bindra:
"My biggest teacher was coach Uwe. I hated him! But stuck with him for 20 years.He always told me things I did not want to hear.#justsaying," the shooter wrote on Twitter about his own equation with German Uwe Riesterer, who is a long-time member of his coaching staff.
Harsha Bhogale:
Jason Gillespie:
The former Australian speedster said, "Kohli is a big personality, there's no doubt about that... He's a fine player and done some fine things as captain and it appears from the outside there's a bit of a clash of personalities. If that's the case, then everyone shakes hands and moves on. If it's not working, it's not working."
Bishan Bedi:
CK Khanna:
The BCCI acting president said, "I would like to appreciate Anil Kumble. Under him, the Indian team performed very well and achieved No 1 position in the Test rankings. We hope that he will be connected to Indian cricket in any way possible. I wish him all the very best for his future assignments."
Lalchand Rajput:
The former Indian cricketer said, "I think it is a bad decision that he had to step down. It gives the wrong signal to other players as well. So, I think it is a sad day for the Indian cricket. He has been given a one-year contract and he waited till the contract expired. He waited till the contract and then decided that he did not want to continue."
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