Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has backed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for following the right procedures by advertising for a new head coach for Team India.
The BCCI last week invited applications for the role of new head coach as current coach Anil Kumble’s one-year tem comes to an end at the end of the ICC Champions Trophy in June.
However, reports that skipper Virat Kohli and Kumble are not seeing eye-to-eye have fuelled speculation that the board advertised for a new coach because Kumble has apparently intimidated the rest of the team. Gavaskar said tactical differences between coaches and captains are common because of a generation gap and such differences exist in every team from every country.
“What the BCCI is doing in my view is following procedure. You will never have a situation when the captain and coach of any country is on the same page,” Gavaskar said at the Aaj Tak Salaam Cricket 2017.
“It is impossible for that to happen because the coach had played in the earlier generation and that’s why the approach maybe slightly different from the current generation. It might not be something actually happening on the field – it could be something to do with practice sessions or team combinations. I don’t think that should be taken too seriously because these discussions are healthy for the team,” he said.
Gavaskar said a coach should be somebody who has long-term interests for Indian cricket at heart.
“A coach should be somebody who has a vision for Indian cricket. He should have a vision that should take the team ahead for the next 8 to 10 years,” he said.
Gavaskar, the first batsman to breach the 10,000-run mark in Test cricket, said Kumble’s results over the last one year show he has done nothing wrong.
“Kumble has done a very good job as coach. I am simply going by the results and when you go by the results of last year, you can say he has done nothing wrong.”
Gavaskar also said he thought the captain was entitled to his strong feelings if he had any because he was the one to spend time on the field and conceded that he did not know how to resolve the current issue but hoped the Cricket Advisory Committee (Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman) would be able to speak to the skipper and coach.
“Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman – these three are legends of the game – these three have played with Anil and they will get the respect and will be heard by both Virat and Anil. These three have nothing but the interest of Indian cricket at heart. In case there’s any truth in the matter, I think that should be the way forward.”