Why Anil Kumble’s ouster feels like a personal loss for Indian cricket fans

In cut-throat corporate boardrooms, high-profile exits are nothing new. Just ask Uber. Similarly, superstar coaches and players falling off is fairly a regular phenomenon. BCCI, being one of the most successful sporting behemoths is bound to have high standards for performance and low tolerance for infighting. And with players being hailed as demigods, inflated egos are a natural corollary. In that context, Kumble’s ouster is not exactly surprising.

When two powerful men collide, one has to give way. Yet, Jumbo’s ouster owing to ‘reservations’ expressed by Virat Kohli has led to tsunami of emotions on social media, with most users slamming Indian cricket’s blue-eyed boy. There is a feeling that Kumble has been wronged, a notion enforced by views of a former great like Sunil Gavaskar.

The sense of hurt from Kumble’s resignation emanates from the public perception about him. For people, who have seen India play through the 90s, Kumble was the prototype of an honest worker, a middle-class icon. He wasn’t the most talented, yet reached the zenith by dint of hard work. It was a completely relatable aspirational tale. He didn’t have the guile of a Shane Warne, the natural talent of a Murali, or the killer variations possessed by Saqlain Mustaq.

Yet, Kumble triumphed and excelled becoming India’s highest wicket taker. Early in his career, he was accused of merely taking wickets in the sub-continent and often only getting the tail-enders dismissed with his flippers. Rather than snapping at his critics or trying to shun them from the commentary box, Kumble worked on his skills. A stint in county cricket helped and Kumble emerged as a better bowler with superior control. His exploits on foreign shores helped India win tests in Australia and South Africa and series in England.

Indian cricket team in the 90s till the early 2000s wasn’t the most consistent side. The loss-win ratio was almost 1:1. Yet, the love and adulation showered to players was exemplary. One big reason was how dignified the players were off field. Their humility while dealing with fans and journalists alike was legendary. The golden generation of players including the likes of Kumble, Sachin, Laxman and Dravid became role models. Sadly, players of this generation lacks that genuine connect, something even Harsha Bhogle mentioned in his column once. Nowadays, players are all about carefully crafted image-making exercises, with monitored and tailored posts on social media championing various ‘causes’. That’s not to say players of past era didn’t believe in PR, but it felt much more real. 

The Kohli vs Kumble impasse in many ways is a cultural clash too. While the old India believed in Guru-Shishya parampara, young India believes in personal excellence. It is not allergic to taking extra help or guidance to reach their desired goal, but will not allow them to dictate terms. As Kumble said in his parting letter, a coach's job is to hold a mirror to the team. He is neither supposed to be a cheerleader nor a rubber-stamp. Trying to break the status-quo was Kumble’s ‘fault’.

Many have equated this with the Greg Chapell- Sourav Ganguly fall-out. The biggest difference though is while Chapell tried to hog the limelight with frequent interactions with the press, Kumble was happy to be in the backdrop doing his job. And under Kumble, the team’s performance has been stellar, so there is hardly any scope for complaint. The feeling that Kumble got elbowed out for trying to do his job in an honest way without pandering to any cliques is what has enraged Indian cricket fans. Big ego won over big heart. That a hardworking servant of Indian cricketer was snubbed just for being thorough with his job, is the general feeling amongst fans. It's true that Indians generally like their icons to be well-behaved and not brash. But that's not the only reason Kumble has won the perception game. So far no mitigating reason has been given for Kumble's ouster apart from that he is 'overbearing'. Being a tough task-master sadly can't be an excuse for humiliating a legend.

The Kohli-Kumble saga can be summed up with a line that the former Indian skipper said during the Monkeygate controversy. Kumble said in a press-conference, ‘only one team played in the spirit of the game’. Kumble can walk off with his head held high that he didn’t compromise with his ideals to cling on to the high post.  Kohli has lot to answer and for starters he can’t brush it off by blaming it on the media.