I was left with no other option but to resign from NCA: Kumble

Zeenews Sports Bureau New Delhi: Former India captain Anil Kumble, who on Monday resigned from his position as National Cricket Academy (NCA) chairman, said he was left with no other option after his proposals were repeatedly ignored by the BCCI and other committee members. "I had a three-year vision to make NCA a better. I had made 10 presentations during my tenure as chairman with the hope that my vision could be accepted. Even on Sunday I had discussed this at the NCA meeting in Chennai. But it was not in alignment with the rest of the committee," said Kumble. "I felt that it made no sense to be a chairman when I was not being heard. I had no other option but to move on in life," he added. The official reason that Kumble gave was "lack of time" considering he is also the president of the Karnataka State Cricket Association, a mentor with the IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore and has his own company 'Tenvic'. However, some top Board officials in the know of things said that Kumble has had some differences of opinion with the BCCI top brass regarding the functioning of NCA which as now become more of rehab centre for the injured Indian players. "The BCCI top brass is of the opinion to decentralise the coaching system at the junior level since it has its own batting, bowling and fielding academy in place. This would have diluted NCA's profile as the place where the talented cricketers hone their skills before going to the next level," a BCCI official said. Kumble`s resignation has been accepted by BCCI`s working committee. Punjab Cricket Association's general secretary M P Pandove will be the caretaker chairman of the NCA till a full-time appointment is made. Kumble was earlier in the eye of the storm regarding conflict of interest for heading the Karnataka State Cricket Association and simultaneously being the head of National Cricket Academy and running a player management company. Kumble had strongly denied the allegations. Kumble is the president of Karnataka State Cricket Association and was the chairman of NCA. He also wears the hat of a players` manager and runs a firm called Tenvic that mentors and looks after the commercial interest of several Karnataka players, including S Aravind and Vinay Kumar. He had said, “No! There is absolutely no conflict in my mind. The interest is the benefit of all these young cricketers. There is absolutely no commercial transaction which has ever happened so far. If commercially these cricketers have been benefited, there is absolutely no fee that Tenvic has charged even as of today. If somebody wants to take them up, please feel free.”