The BCCI was heavily criticized by Twitter users for referring former India coach and legendary cricketer Anil Kumble as ‘former bowler’ while wishing him on his birthday. The board was forced to delete the tweet as irate fans and former journalists ripped it apart for its indifferent attitude against the champion spinner.
The row follows Kumble's acrimonious departure as national coach in June, when he quit saying his relationship with captain Virat Kohli was "untenable".
Kumble turned 47 on Tuesday and is renowned for being India’s highest wicket-taker and world’s third highest wicket-taker. Overall, the iconic leg-spinner took 619 wickets in Tests and is behind only Australian leggie Shane Warne and Sri Lankan wizard Muttiah Muralitharan in the wicket-takers list. Further, he is the only bowler apart from Jim Laker to take ten wickets in an innings in the history of Test cricket.
He is an international icon and also fulfilled the role of a successful captain during his playing days. The leg spinner’s career spanned two decades and he retired from the international form of the game as Test captain and was head coach of the Indian team for a year.
The BCCI later deleted that tweet, although a screenshot of it can be found on social media. Apart from that, their new tweet said, “Here’s wishing a very happy birthday to former #TeamIndia Captain Mr. Anil Kumble,†thus leaving out the part of him being a former India coach.
Kumble’s tenure as coach was highly successful for India as the team clinched the No. 1 spot in Test cricket and reached the Champions Trophy finale.
They defeated New Zealand, England, Bangladesh and Australia at home apart from beating West Indies and Sri Lanka in away Test series.
India have since appointed Ravi Shastri as the team’s coach and have successfully completed a tour of Sri Lanka apart from beating Australia in home ODIs.
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