There are few sports where the captain plays as crucial a role as in cricket. Irrespective of the format, the captain has to soak in the pressure for his teammates, make quick decisions (from bowling changes to field placements) and then ensure his own performance is up to the mark. A captain who doesn’t score, or take wickets, is hardly inspiring.

That is one reason why the captain in cricket, especially in India, is like a demigod. Look at India’s last five Test captains; each one of them — Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, MS Dhoni and now Virat Kohli — was, and is a superstar, and a fairly successful one at that.

In that case if there is a clash between the captain and his coach, it is inevitable that the latter has to go, isn’t it? Greg Chappell made an inglorious exit in 2007, after skirmishes with Ganguly and other senior players. And now 10 years later, Kumble put in his papers after the captain, Kohli, made known his reservations with the coach’s style.

But that is hardly a fair assessment. Ask Gary Kirsten, arguably one of India’s most successful and loved coaches. The ‘man management role’ that a coach does is a ‘massive task,’ Kirsten told The Indian Express . Kumble seemed to have been doing well, but had to quit in spite of some stellar performances by the team.

If this were football, it would have been Kohli who would have been looking at the exit door. Almost every star player-manager clash in football has ended in the latter’s favour. Remember the Ferguson-Beckham or Scolari- Romario episodes?

Sadly, Indian cricket is governed by a Board that is a mess in itself. Instead of telling the players to fall in line, it opted to toe the line of a superstar who gets ticket sales and viewership.

Prince Mathews Thomas Deputy Editor

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