Sad day for Indian cricket: Lalchand Rajput on Kumble's resignation

Former Indian cricketer Lalchand Rajput on Wednesday declared Anil Kumble's decision not to continue as the national cricket team's head coach as a sad day for Indian cricket and praised him for doing a great job during his one-year tenure.

"I think it is a bad decision that he had to step down. It gives the wrong signal to other players as well. So, I think it is a sad day for the Indian cricket. He has been given a one-year contract and he waited till the contract expired. He waited till the contract and then decided that he did not want to continue," Rajput told ANI.

The 55-year-old, who is one of the candidates to become new coach of India, further said that if the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had to give him an extension, they should have gone for a two-year extension rather than limiting it till the end of the West Indies tour.

Rajput also suggested that every coach should be given at least a few years to get along with the team and that one-year is too short a period to achieve results.

"If they had to give him an extension, I think they should have given him a two-year contract. I believe he got just two weeks extension to be with the Indian team till the West Indies tour. So, if you look at entire scenario, I think every coach needs some time to gel with the team and I think one year is too short. If you look at the performance of last one year, the performance was extremely good," he added.

On Tuesday, Kumble stepped down from the post of head coach, saying that skipper Virat Kohli had reservations about his work 'style' and his extension.

The legendary leg-spinner, in a strongly worded letter, admitted that although the BCCI had several times attempted to resolve the misunderstandings between him and the captain, it was apparent that the partnership was untenable and therefore, he had decided to move on.

Kohli, on the other hand, prior to India's opening encounter at the Champions Trophy against Pakistan played down the reports of him having differences with the head coach, saying they were mere speculations which have been created by the people.

Kumble was appointed as coach in June 2016 for a one-year term by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) and was instantly successful. Under him, India won Test series against West Indies, New Zealand, England, Bangladesh and Australia.

It was reported that the three-member CAC, comprising of former cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman who are tasked to find the new coach for the Indian cricket team, was also willing to retain Kumble.

Meanwhile, the BCCI has already invited applications for the position.

Besides Rajput, Dodda Ganesh, Richard Pybus and Tom Moody had also submitted applications for the head coach post, while former Indian opener Virender Sehwag forwarded a two-line cover letter to the management.

-ANI