Soon after Anil Kumble stepped down as Team India’s head coach, veteran cricketer Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at the some of the Indian players, including captain Virat Kohli, over the alleged "differences".
“So you want softies? You want somebody to just tell you, ok boys, don't practice today because you guys are not feeling well, ok take a holiday, go shopping. You want that kind of a person. If somebody is a hard taskmaster and he has got you results like Anil Kumble has got over the last one year. If any of the players are complaining, I feel those players are the ones who should be left out of the team," seemingly angry Gavaskar told NDTV on Tuesday.
Gavaskar said the incident would send a wrong signal to the next coach.
"But what this is sending a signal for the next coach is either bow down to what the players want you to do, otherwise you, like one of India's cricket legends Anil Kumble, you will have to step down and that is a sad, sad, sad message," he said.
On Tuesday Kumble stepped down from his role as the coach and hit out at captain Virat Kohli for the ‘difference in style’ between the two while maintaining that the relationship was ‘untenable’.
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"Once the CAC (the Cricket Advisory Committee) had given its ok, I would have thought that Anil would carry on. I have very little idea about the differences between the two (Kohli and Kumble), if at all there were any differences, but it is a sad day because he has been one of the greatest cricketers that India has produced and for him to not want to do the job for whatever reason, and perhaps he might come up with the reasons over the next couple of days but that is really sad for Indian cricket," he said.
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Gavaskar added: "There will always be differences in a group of more than two or three people. That's bound to happen when you are in a tense situation... India has won everything since the time Anil took over. I can't see Kumble doing much wrong in one year and the only reason this kind of a day has come is clearly because there has to be something which didn't quite gel in that group," Gavaskar told the news channel.
Gavaskar said he didn’t know who will be Kumble’s replacement. He, however, suggested that Sanjay Bangar could be given the responsibility for the West Indies tour.
“But before India goes to Sri Lanka, the coach has to be appointed. It could well be Sanjay Bangar again, although he has not thrown his hat in the ring. Because he has got the experience of coaching. It is for the CAC to take a call on that."
"You want somebody to just tell you, ok boys, don't practice today because you guys are not feeling well, ok take a holiday, go shopping," Says #SunlGavaskar
