'I took the lead in speaking to Sachin Tendulkar' - Vinod Rai on Virat Kohli-Anil Kumble rift in 2017

It is known to all that legendary spinner Anil Kumble stepped down as India’s head coach after the 2017 Champions Trophy after a rift with the then Indian skipper Virat Kohli. It was shocking for all to see Kumble not getting an extended term and as per Kohli, players felt intimidated by his style of coaching. A clearer version of the story regarding the same sequence came to the fore when Vinod Rai, who was the chief of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators, opened about it in his latest book.

Rai also added that he immediately moved to legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar to get some possible solution on the matter. Rai added that he thought himself to be a rank outsider and believed that the story could have been dealt with in a better way if players like Sachin, Laxman, or Ganguly spoke about it.

“It was on this issue that Ram Guha was upset. He wanted us to automatically extend his term. Now, just imagine if we had extended the term, and somebody only to embarrass the CoA had gone to court, he could have easily stalled our move. So, I decided to follow the process and let Kumble be an automatic inclusion in the process. But when Virat Kohli raised the issue of younger players being intimidated by Kumble’s disciplinarian approach, I took the lead in speaking to Sachin Tendulkar,” said Vinod Rai as quoted by HT.

Rai opens up on the importance of talking to Sachin Tendulkar

“I saw myself as a rank outsider. Why would players listen to me? But if someone like Sachin (Tendulkar), Sourav (Ganguly), or VVS (Laxman) speaks to the team management or the players, there is a greater chance of a breakthrough. Still, I believe the entire episode could have been handled 100 times better,” he added.

Rai, in his latest book – ‘Not Just a Nightwatchman: My Innings in the BCCI’ – talked about the Kohli-Kumble incident in detail and went on to say on record that India couldn’t have got a better coach than Kumble back then.