Players are more powerful than coaches, Rahul Dravid on Kohli-Kumble saga

Anil Kumble quit the post of Team India Head Coach in June, following a fall out with skipper Virat Kohli.

Courtesy: IANS

New Delhi: The Virat Kohli-led Team India might have moved ahead after Anil Kumble episode, but former Team India skipper Rahul Dravid believes that the legendary spinner's ouster should never have panned out the way it did.

"At the end of the day, I don’t know the specifics of that particular issue, but it shouldn’t have got played out in the way that it did," said Dravid as per Cricbuzz.

"I think the whole thing got played out in the media which is very, very unfortunate for Anil and not fair on him at all. So, what’s the reality of it and what happens behind closed doors is not something I’m preview to, so I can’t comment directly? But it was definitely an unfortunate episode, especially to someone like Anil who has been an absolute legend of the game, someone who has done more to win Test matches for India than anybody I know. And he had a successful year as coach as well. But the fact is that it should never have played out the way that it did, publicly."

Dravid also went on to elaborate that, even if it was unfortunate, it is undeniable that players hold more sway in the dressing room than the coach and that’s been the case always.

"See, coaches get sacked," he said. 

"The first thing you know when you stop playing and become a coach is that someday you are going to get sacked. That’s the reality. As an India A and Under-19 coach, I know that someday I’m going to get the boot."

"Some football managers get sacked after two games, so that’s the reality. Players are more powerful than coaches, we know that because we were more powerful than coaches when we played."

Kumble quit the post of India Head Coach in June, following his fall out with skipper Virat Kohli.

Kumble had quit the high-profile job two days after Pakistan beat India in the ICC Champions Trophy final in England.

In a statement Kumble revealed that his partnership with captain Virat Kohli had become "untenable" and that is why he decided to move on.

Ravi Shastri, whom Kumble had replaced, was called back to the national team as the new head coach till the 2019 World Cup.

Shastri beat the likes of Virender Sehwag and Tom Moody for the high-profile job.