Former India captain and coach Anil Kumble’s association with the Euro T20 Slam has caught the International Cricket Council by surprise, according to a report by The Times of India.
Kumble has signed up as an ‘advisor’ for the tournament, which is being conducted by Cricket Ireland, Cricket Scotland and Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond [Netherlands].
The former leg-spinner is the chairman of the ICC’s technical committee yet the governing body was clueless about his agreement with the T20 league.
The biggest embarrassment for the ICC, though, is the fact that it’s own events monitoring group, which is supposed to keep an eye out for the various leagues coming up across the world, had no idea about Kumble’s deal with the Euro T20 Slam.
“He [Kumble] may have followed the necessary protocols for all you know. But the thing is, the events monitoring group could’ve certainly benefitted from the intelligence. They didn’t have an idea,” the report quoted a source as saying.
Even the Board of Control for Cricket in India claims to have no idea of the Euro T20 Slam, let alone Kumble’s association with it.
On his part, the 48-year-old has said he hopes the BCCI allows Indian cricketers to participate in such leagues in the future.
“It will be good to see Indian cricketers participating in the various [T20] leagues in the future and hopefully BCCI will give NOC to more players,” he was quoted as saying.