The Virat Kohli Vs Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) tiff that left the whole cricket fraternity in a shock seems to be a never-ending saga in Indian cricket. 

Every other day a comment comes from a cricket expert that keeps the whole fiasco alive on social media.

Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif, speaking on the controversy involving the Indian board and Kohli, said that its fate was written when legendary spinner Anil Kumble was asked to step down as head coach of the team.

The matter (b/w Kumble & Kohli) should have been handled a lot better, by whoever is in charge. It was not handled properly: Sourav Ganguly pic.twitter.com/gefNoMWjgo

In 2017, Anil Kumble had stepped down as the coach of the Indian team after Kohli had informed the Indian board that he had reservations with Kumble’s style of coaching. Ravi Shastri then took over from Kumble and served as the head coach for four years. 

Latif, in a YouTube video, said that Shastri had no knowledge of coaching a side and yet, he was put at the helm.  

“All this began happening when Anil Kumble was wrongly removed as coach. Ravi Shastri had taken no coaching courses and yet he directly took entry as the coach. This was a strong group – Kumble had over 600 wickets and Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid were his teammates. This trio is very strong,” Latif said in a YouTube video.

The former Pakistan wicket-keeper further found similarities between Pakistan cricket from the 1990s and the current Indian cricket scenario. He added that it was personal attacks from Ganguly towards Shastri that impacted Indian cricket. 

“By all means, Ganguly told Shastri 'boss, it's time to go' even if Shastri had considered continuing as coach. This whole thing that has been building up since before the T20 World Cup, these are personal attacks and it has impacted Indian cricket. What happened with Pakistan in the early 1990s is happening today with Indian cricket,” Latif added.

Say Hello to our T20I captain @ImRo45 & Head Coach Rahul Dravid. #TeamIndia #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/feQpH0q7tC

After Shastri’s tenure ended, another Indian great Rahul Dravid took charge of the men’s senior team.  

Dravid’s first Test series as head coach ended with a 1-2 defeat in South Africa and to add salt to the wound, captain Virat Kohli, a day later, relinquished captaincy from the longest format of the game.  

What a way to end the series #SAvIND #BetwayODISeries #BePartOfIt pic.twitter.com/iI9ycwN8Yf

No matter how much the team and the Indian board denies, the off-field controversy certainly looked like it played a part in the outcome of the Test and ODI series in the Rainbow nation.  

After losing the Test series 1-2, India suffered an embarrassing 0-3 whitewash in the 50-over format. 

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