The Saga of 2 last names with Ks Kohli and Kumble

The Saga of 2 last names with Ks Kohli and Kumble and finally one judgement.

Gradually as more News updates appear on this saga additional heat is guaranteed.

The essence of each news Item is same though.

We are in the age where a captain insists who the team coach should be…now that’s what I say Uber cool …Imagine…A school ward choosing who his teacher should be…a lawyer chooses who the Judge should be…or in corporate world I get the power to choose my boss…wow…it’s a such a desirable thing to have… Mostly people will discard my request, not before exhibiting their utter disdainful behaviour…the milder ones though will just humour it away, as a wishful thinking…But certain Mr. Kohli will certainly take me seriously…

But desires, most of the time, brings along a sense of destruction with it…

Same thing applies to Indian cricket team dressing room. A sanctum , as few would wish it to be, where a captain wishes “I am the boss, ON THE FIELD AND OFF IT TOO”.

“OFF THE FIELD”, mind it, ideally must be the fiefdom of the coach..That’s what most cricket pundits will advocate…That’s how most of the great teams have operated in past. Be it the 1980s West Indies team or the late 1990s and early 2000s Australian team …

Just as Sunny Gavaskar implied on NDTV “ON FIELD CAPTAIN IS THE BOSS, BUT OFF THE FIELD COACH SHOULD BE THE BOSS”. That’s the basic premise of all team sports and not just Cricket. Be it Soccer or Badminton or Hockey.

There are ample instances of Mr. Kohlli’s endeavour to ascend the chair of “THE BOSS”. Earlier I used  to brush apart the aggression display as extremely necessary weaponry in order to win matches. But the aggression leading to behaviour of Alpha Male characteristic is neither a desired behaviour nor a productive one either.

There have been one previous specific official instance when Mr. Kohli’s Alpha male characteristics were brought to cricket fan’s attention. That was when Mr. Ramchandra Guha resigned from Supreme court appointed COA.  He inimical to the idea of “Captain being the Boss everywhere”, because he had apprehensions of disaster if such an ideology is followed. The case that he pointed out was that of Harshs Bhogle being removed from commentary contract, because of his critical views of Indian team in certain matches.  

If this is true, which I sure am, then we are staring at autocratic behaviour of a captain who is not only trying to thrash the opposition “ON THE FIELD” but “OFF THE FIELD” as well.

So here we have a cricket captain who just does want to hear any bad sound bites, at all. Being critic will be treated as a criminal. God forbid what a devil’s advocate be treated as.

Does this raise a question if taming of India by Pakistan on CT 2017 final was the outcome of Kohli Kumble squat… It looks very likely to me that India lost as the players wanted to get rid of Kumble…

To hard core cricket fans nothing can be more preposterous than the statement that “India lost to Pakistan because they wanted to get rid of Kumble as Head Coach”. But the underlying situation must be analysed in a very reasonable manner before disdainfully discarding it.

I visualise myself as Kohli, and determine my behaviour by using known characteristics of Kohli.

I(Kohli) havenot spoken to Kumble since last 6 months, which started due a turf war that ensued between us. Kumble , My (Kohli’s) adversary, is providing one after another , stupendous results, which looks very sustained as well. I(Kohli) am in despair, as I am not getting enough ammunition to target my adversary.  When the time came for selection of head coach , just before CT 2017, I had talks with the team of Sachin, Saurabh and Laxman. I try desparately to get rid of Kumble, by divulging our lack of cohesion and agreement in front of the infamous trio. They donot pay heed to my blabbering as Kumble has been a real result oriented work horse, who has actually delivered.

Additionally they donot feel , that I(Kohli), as captain is the all season boss of the team, irrespective of whether Boss being “ON THE FIELD or OFF THE FIELD”. The decision to retain Kumble as head coach is almost inevitable …if.. We(Indian team) manage to win the CT.

Hence what is the last resort that I(Kohli) am left with, in order to prevent Kumble from being appointed as head coach of the Indian team? Loose to Pakistan in the CT final. Yes , that is going to provide me enough ammunition to fire, that will prove just enough, to get rid of Kumble being appointed as head coach.

Now. Back to my real world. Wouldnot Kohli have actually choosen to loose against Pakistan in that crucial final? More likely he certainly would have,considering which stakes are higher, winning the CT final and deal with Kumble or loose the final to get rid of Kumble forever. CT win is not as much worth as that of getting rid of Kumble anyways, from Mr. Kohli’s perspective.  Also the fact that Kohli is averse to opposition WITHIN THE CAMP AND OUTSIDE TOO, strengthens my visualization. Biggest instance of Kohli’s averness is removal of Harsha Bhogle from panel of commentators. It’s not only Mr. Kohli’s aversion. There is also no love lost between other team members and Kumble. The team members, who refuse to practice 50 catches a day. The team members who don’t want a regulated lifestyle. The team members who wouldn’t like scolds or pep talks after India’s abject surrender to Pakistan in the final.

Additionally there are palpable signs that the team deliberately choose to lose the final against Pakistan. It has been widely reported in the media that in the sanctum, called Dressing Room, it was decided that if India wins toss then choose to bat first. Now I am not sure whether Mr.Kohli was part of the decision or not, but Kumble certainly wanted that. On the field what Mr. Kohli did was to choose to bowl first. So has Sanctum’s piousity been maintained? Isnot this the first step to loose the match considering the flat pitch that was in the offing.

My question is how many more matches India team is going to loose to adjust to the ego of one man Mr. Kohli. Is he worth to captain a side?

My two cents Kohli is good as an aggressive batsman. So let him be so. Remove him from captaincy. He is not worth it. That’s because it is imperative that eventually Cricket must prevail over an individual’s ego.

Lal Swain

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