CHENNAI:
Tamil Nadu coach Sulakshan Kulkarni
’s open criticism of captain
R Sai Kishore
for choosing to bat first in the
Ranji Trophy
semifinal has become a full-blown controversy with former state stars coming down hard on the Mumbai man.
Moments after his side suffered an innings defeat against Mumbai on Monday at the BKC ground, Kulkarni had said: “We lost the match at 9 o’clock on day one.” TN stalwarts K Srikkanth, Hemang Badani and Dinesh Karthik were extremely unhappy with the coach’s words saying that the issue should have been settled within the four walls of the dressing room.
Srikkanth, on his YouTube channel, said: “This is absolutely not fair. Dear TNCA, please do not recruit such coaches from outside (the state).”
While Badani wrote on social media: “Good coaches do not do that”.
Ex-TN captain Karthik shared his views on X (formerly Twitter), saying: “This is so wrong. This is so disappointing from the coach.”
But Kulkarni maintained his stance, claiming that the entire dressing room was shocked with Sai Kishore’s last-minute plan change.
“I told him (Sai Kishore) that we will bowl first if we win the toss. That was the last communication I had with the captain before the toss, and it happened about five to seven minutes before he went to the middle. He suddenly decided to bat first and everyone in the dressing room was stunned. Even the opponents were (stunned),” Kulkarni told TOI.
“If his inner voice or instinct told him that we have to bat first, there was no point in having me. I am an experienced coach and a Ranji Trophywinning coach. We were playing against Mumbai in Mumbai, a place I know everything about, but he did not listen,” Kulkarni said.
When contacted to understand his side of the story, Sai Kishore did not respond.
TNCA feels Kulkarni committed a mistake The TNCA is understandably livid with Kulkarni’s post-match outburst.
“What he (Kulkarni) did was wrong. We got five outright wins with Sai Kishore’s good decision-making. You cannot blame someone for just one decision. That is not how a coach should work. In my view, Kulkarni has committed a mistake,” said a TNCA official.
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