For Indian cricket team, a season of discontent

BIRMINGHAM: "No hard shoulder for the next 300 yards," screams the signage on the M40 motorway, notifying a temporary absence of the emergency lane for breakdowns. One wonders if either one of Anil Kumble or Virat Kohli saw the irony in the sign when they made the trip to the Edgbaston cricket ground.

It might seem that Indian cricket, in the midst of another disagreeable captain-coach saga - the threads of which are interwoven with the supposed power struggle between the Committee of Administrators and the old guard in the BCCI - is in dire need of a pit stop. It's as if everyone needs to stop hurling complaints, or stop defending themselves, or stop cooking up conspiracy theories and just take a deep breath.

Instead, what we have is the team's defending-champions tag in the Champions Trophy and a potentially acrimonious but money spinning clash against Pakistan looming.

More than that, though, is the desperate hunt for a new coach from London itself, an agenda which seems to have hijacked the team's very campaign.

On Thursday, there was some more unconvincing pooh-poohing of the whole 'differences' saga by BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary. What we also got was some more acrimony, incidentally over a practice session this time. By late afternoon at Edgbaston, the Pakistan team was busy with nets and good-naturedly greeting the securitywallahs, since not too many of the genuine fans can make it to these training sessions anymore. There seemed to be no sign of the restlessness the Indian team exhibited earlier in the day, when Kohli made his displeasure over the practice facilities known.

Team sources described the two nets which were set up as "not fit even for under-19s". By the evening, the rancour lingered among local organizers, who had failed to set up four nets and left the run-up areas too short, and they prevented any photography around the area, much like India had in the morning.

Discontent seems to be the dominating emotion in Indian cricket right now, and one only hopes the sentiment doesn't spill over on to the field. "You can see the full calendar and tell me at what position there was a free slot (to select the coach)," Choudhary said, " After one tournament there is another, then another series." He dismissed all talk of Kohli and Kumble's differences of opinion as "speculation".

The logical thing to do, it would seem, would have been to give Kumble a temporary extension, let the cricket get over, and take a call with a clear mind. Instead, what we have is a rushed audition for a new coach, and more pressure on the team to play out of its skin to lay all conjecture to rest. The cricket, after all, must not take a back seat to all the shenanigans.