Former captain and coach Anil Kumble took to social media and spoke in support of his India teammate Wasim Jaffer, who had been accused of religion-based bias by the Uttarakhand Cricket Association.
Jaffer, who had been appointed as coach of the Uttarakhand senior team in 2020, quit owing to a dispute with the state association and on Wednesday strongly rejected allegations by the officials that he favoured Muslim players in the team.
He got support from Kumble, a former India captain and coach who currently heads the ICC's cricket committee. Kumble and Jaffer also worked together in the coaching staff for the Kings XI Punjab franchise in IPL 2020, which was held in UAE.
Kumble, like many other former India cricketers, had recently tweeted in favour of the 'India together' drive by leading the call for unity after singer Rihanna had tweeted about the internet shutdown in Delhi.
"With you Wasim. Did the right thing. Unfortunately it's the players who'll miss your mentor ship," Kumble wrote on his Twitter handle.
Jaffer, who played 31 Tests for India and is a celebrated name in domestic cricket, said the charge levelled by CAU's secretary Mahim Verma in a media report, had caused him immense pain.
Jaffer resigned on Tuesday saying that the "interference and bias of selectors and the association's secretary for non-deserving players" was his reason.
"...jo communal angle lagaya (the communal angle that has been brought up), that is very, very sad," Jaffer said in a virtual press conference on Wednesday.
"They levelled an allegation that I am in favour of Iqbal Abdulla, I wanted to make Iqbal Abdulla as the captain, which is absolutely wrong," he asserted.
The leading run-getter in Ranji Trophy also dismissed allegations that he brought Maulvis (Muslim religious scholars) to the team's training.
"First of all they said the Maulavis came there in a bio-bubble and we offered Namaz. Let me tell you one thing, the Maulavi, Maulana, who came on two or three Fridays during the camp in Dehradun, I had not called him.
"It was Iqbal Abdulla (Uttarakhand player) who sought mine and the manager's permission only for the Friday prayer," he said referring to the 31-year-old all-rounder, who has competed in the IPL but hasn't played for India yet.
In a tweet, he also said he "recommended Jay Bista for captaincy not Iqbal but CAU officials favoured Iqbal".
(With PTI Inputs)
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