Anil Kumble was made to look like villain, rules were broken to appoint Ravi Shastri as head coach: Diana Edulji

The Virat Kohli-Anil Kumble’s controversial saga got an extension on Tuesday after an e-mail sent by CoA member Diana Edulji to chairman Vinod Rai came into limelight. As per a report published in ESPNcricinfo, Edulji wrote a letter to Rai, addressing her disagreement with the CoA head over the formation of an ad-hoc committee to select the next Indian women’s cricket team coach after Ramesh Powar’s term came to an end later last month. The BCCI on Tuesday confirmed the formation of an ad-hoc committee, comprising India’s first World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev, former opener Anshuman Gaekwad and ex-Indian women cricketer Shantha Rangaswamy, to pick the head coach of the Indian women’s team. However, Edulji said that if men’s cricket team captain Kohli could get his choice of a coach after bypassing the rules then the women’s captain should also have the say in getting her choice of coach. [caption id=“attachment_3538321” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Former Indian cricket team head coach Anil Kumble and captain Virat Kohli. AP[/caption] In a mail sent to Rai, she wrote, “Virat did not accede to Kumble continuing in spite of Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) saying so then why not these two players get what they feel is best for the team.” “I see nothing wrong in women cricketers writing emails reg the coach. They were truthful in expressing their views unlike Virat who frequently sent sms’s to the CEO on which you acted and there was a change in the Coach, wrote Edulji. The CoA member pointed out that timelines were extended for ‘someone’ to apply for the head coach job when the CAC headed by Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman was to interview the applicants. Edulji did not name that someone in the letter, but her fingers are pointing towards Ravi Shastri, who was eventually selected as the head coach of the side. She wrote, “There also I had objected and my dissent is recorded when the timelines were extended for someone to apply as he didn’t apply in time. Mr Kumble a legend in his own right was subjected to loss of face and made to look like a villain, he was gracious enough to move on for which I respect him…” However, the CoA chairman Vinod Rai decided against Edulji’s call to scrap the selection process of the Indian women’s team coach and continue with Ramesh Powar at least till the New Zealand tour beginning next month. Rai in his reply made it clear that scrapping the coach selection process is out of the question as the BCCI has already invited applications for the job. The application deadline ends on 14 December and Manoj Prabhakar, Herschelle Gibbs and Dimitri Mascarenhas are among the applicants. The BCCI is expected to name the new coach before the New Zealand tour begins on 24 January. The tour comprises three ODIs and as many T20 Internationals. With inputs from PTI