Anil Kumble steps down as chief mentor of Mumbai Indians

Mumbai: Former India captain Anil Kumble has stepped down as the chief mentor ofMumbai Indians with immediate effect. Kumble, who has been associated with theIndian Premier League franchise since January 2013, has decided to pursue other opportunities in sports and cricket.

His decision follows a BCCI crackdown on conflict of interest in the board. Earlier in the month, India team director Ravi Shastri was removed from the IPL Governing Council while selector Roger Binny, whose son Stuart is a member of the national team, was asked to leave. Sourav Ganguly had replaced Kumble as the BCCI technical committee chief as the leg-spinner was still acting as mentor to Mumbai Indians.

File image of Anil Kumble. Reuters

In a statement today, Mumbai Indians thanked Kumble for his contribution.

"Mumbai Indians is grateful to Anil Kumble, India’s highest wicket taker in both Tests and one days for his contribution in strengthening the Mumbai Indians Franchisee. In his first year as the Mentor, Mumbai Indians won the IPL and the Champions League in 2013. Mumbai Indians won the IPL once again in 2015," said the team in a statement.

Kumble, on his part, said, "I sign off with the obvious satisfaction of moulding a set of brilliant individuals to a high performing unit. Over the 3 years, MI met unprecedented success winning the IPL twice and the Champions League once. Winning both trophies in the same year (2013) being our crowning glory."

"As I move on to pursue other interests around cricket, I shall be amiss if I do not express my deep sense of appreciation to The Ambani family, particularly Smt. Nita Ambani, Akash Ambani and Nikhil Meswani for their unstinted support and empowerment."

"The players and my support team (coaching and non- coaching staff) have been an admirable bunch and were a joy to work with. Finally, I thank the MI fans for their constant support," added the former India captain.

For the same reasons, 3 Indian team support staffers Sanjay Bangar (batting consultant), Bharat Arun (bowling coach) and fielding coach R Sridhar will have to choose between the Indian team and IPL in case their contract with the Indian team is extended beyond March 2016.

Bangar is currently coach of Kings XI Punjab, Arun is the bowling coach at Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sridhar is fielding coach at Kings XI Punjab.