Pressure on Virat Kohli after Anil Kumble exit: BCCI official

NEW DELHI: After head coach Anil Kumble's exit on Tuesday following long-running disagreements with Virat Kohli, the pressure has fallen squarely on the captain. A top BCCI official said that Kohli will have to ensure that the team delivers under him, else, he too would have to face the music. "It has been given to understand that Kohli eventually had the veto power on the coach issue which pushed Kumble out of the team.Now that he has his way, he has to deliver as captain. Otherwise, he had it," the official told TOI.
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Shedding light on the meeting with the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) and board officials during a meeting in London after the Champions Trophy final, sources said that Kohli shared his feeling of lack of trust with Kumble. But they also said that Kohli had agreed to continue to work with the former leg-spin ace if he is forced to do so. When the CAC members met Kumble, he told his former teammates Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, that he didn't have any issue with Kohli as such. He had "no problems with Virat," he was reported to have said.
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The CAC members then explained the entire scenario to the Committee of Administrators, which was apprehensive of who would take care of these problems if they arose again in the future. It was also discussed why the issue was allowed to reach such an acrimonious pass, and that the board officials should have taken this matter seriously in the first phase of disagreements and buried the hatchet.
However, CAC still voted in favour of Kumble to continue as the head coach, which he also mentioned in his resignation letter. "Since, Kohli had strong reservations against him, Kumble decided to gracefully leave the scene on his own," the official explained. It was also revealed that Kumble's pep talk after losing the Champions Trophy final against Pakistan also didn't go down well with the team. Without being rude, Kumble mentioned how wides and no-balls cost India dear and how the bowlers were not able to execute their game plan. To which, Kolhi too agreed with Kumble on how the team should implement the ideas that it has worked on in the nets.Kohli, the official revealed, then went on to give a positive spin to the pep talk by mentioning how the team played well to reach the final.
But, sources said, it was the timing of Kumble's talk that was the problem.In the CAC meeting, it was discussed on how Kumble could have avoided such a talk right after losing a big final.Yet, there is also a section within the BCCI who feel that the role of a coach will be greatly compromised if he doesn't take a position in the face of adversity or defeat.
Meanwhile, the entire squad was in transit to St Lucia when they learnt of Kumble's resignation. Interestingly, not many in the squad were curious to know about Kumble's whereabouts when they left London early on Tuesday. "It's clear that whosoever is close to Kohli will survive the heat and that includes assistant coach Sanjay Bangar," the board official added.
So, what next for Kumble? It appears unlikely that he would be seen in a commentary role or even in the role of an administrator after the falling-out he has had with the captain.