The former Indian captain finds himself in a spot of bother after his player agency signs up prospective Indian cricketers at a time when the former leg spinner holds key administrative posts.

Anil Kumble needs no introduction as a cricketer who served Indian cricket didligently. However, currently the former Indian captain dons several hats including that of the mentor in the Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL team, as the Karnataka State Association chief and also, as the chairman of the National Cricket Academy. Given that his playing field is now administration, the recent news that Tenvic, the sports/ talent management agency that he apparently, owns has signed up three Indian cricketers has caused a great deal of debate and discussion.

For one, Kumble has a clean image as an Indian cricketer and this then goes against the positions he holds simply because he is in the position of influence that could matter in team selections, whether it is for the Karnataka team, the Indian team or the Royal Challengers Bangalore. The conflict of interest is a clear case of contention here because Kumble’s company boasts of the likes of Vinay Kumar and Sreenath Aravind, who are upcoming players on the Indian horizon and while his company stands to benefit from these players making the Indian cricket, it is in the position he holds that has caused a lot of concern and confusion particularly because Kumble is held in such high esteem and the idea that his position within the cricket administration and his company could now put him in dubious company has now gone down well.

While there are commercial considerations involved in the deal, that there is the element of the cricket administrator also aligning himself as a player agent that is causing some strife.

There is clearly going to be a few brouhaha as well as brainstorming on the issue because the issue of conflict of interest has been a recurring subject whether in the case of the BCCI president, N. Srinivasan, who also owns India Cements that owns the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, of selectors who also write columns for newspapers or serve as brand ambassadors for IPL teams and of even commentators such as Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri being on the pay roll of the BCCI. In that light, this is also been seen as a disturbing trend that may be attributed with some sinister allegations if it were another player other than Anil Kumble.