Kohli-Kumble rift rumours: Ramachandra Guha slams 'superstar culture' in Team India

Bengaluru, June 2: Historian Ramachandra Guha had slammed the "superstar culture" in the Indian cricket team following the rift rumours between captain Virat Kohli and head coach Anil Kumble.

Guha attacks Gavaskar Guha attacks Gavaskar

Guha, who resigned from the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) Committee of Administrators (COA), has attacked the board in a letter to panel head Vinod Rai.

With reports of alleged tension between Kumble and Kohli and BCCI not renewing the former's coaching contract, Guha is not happy with the hapennings in Indian cricket.

For Guha, BCCI has handled Kumble's contract issue in an "extremely insensitive" manner. He questioned the senior players in the team over Kumble.

"The way in which the contract of Anil Kumble, the current Head Coach of the senior team, has been handled. The Indian team's record this past season has been excellent; and even if the players garner the bulk of the credit, surely the Head Coach and his support staff also get some. In a system based on justice and merit, the Head Coach's term would have been extended. Instead, Kumble was left hanging, and then told the post would be re-advertised afresh," Guha wrote.

"Clearly, the issue has been handled in an extremely insensitive and unprofessional manner by the BCCI CEO and the BCCI office-bearers, with the COA, by its silence and inaction, unfortunately being complicit in this regard. (Recall that the Court Order of 30 January had expressly mandated us to supervise the management of BCCI.) In case due process had to be followed since Kumble's original appointment was only for one year, why was this not done during April and May, when the IPL was on?," he added.

He continued, "If indeed the captain and the Head Coach were not getting along, why was this not attended to as soon as the Australia series was over in late March? Why was it left until the last minute, when a major international tournament was imminent, and when the uncertainty would undermine the morale and ability to focus of the coach, the captain and the team?

"And surely giving senior players the impression that they may have a veto power over the coach is another example of superstar culture gone berserk? Such a veto power is not permitted to any other top level professional team in any other sport in any other country. Already, in a dismaying departure from international norms, current Indian players enjoy a veto power on who can be the members of the commentary team. If it is to be coaches next, then perhaps the selectors and even office-bearers will follow?."

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