Krishnamachari Srikkanth instructs TNCA to remove Sulakshan Kulkarni and never hire a coach like him amid tensions with Sai Kishore

Former India batter Krishnamachari Srikkanth has lashed out at Sulakshan Kulkarni for his comments towards Tamil Nadu captain R Sai Kishore after the defeat against Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy semifinal.

Tamil Nadu suffered an innings defeat against Mumbai to bow out of the competition. Right after the game ended, Kulkarni pinned the blame on Kishore for the team’s loss. The former Mumbai cricketer said that Kishore opted to bat first in bowling-friendly conditions even though the team wanted to bowl first.

He stated that the captain changed his mind at the last moment. After Kishore opted to bat first, Tamil Nadu slipped to 42 for 5 in the first session and were eventually bowled out for 146 runs. The Tamil Nadu skipper did impress with the ball, taking a five-fer to reduce Mumbai to 106 for 7 but he and his teammates failed to deal with Mumbai’s famed lower-order.

Shardul Thakur scored a century Tanush Kotian scored 89 and Mumbai scored 378 runs. In the second innings, Tamil Nadu’s batters struggled again and the team was bowled out for just 162 runs as Mumbai won the game by an innings and 70 runs to book a place in the final.

“I always speak straightforwardly — we lost the match at 9 o’clock on day one. The moment I saw the wicket I knew exactly what we were going to get. Everything was set, we won the toss, as a coach, as a Mumbaikar, I know the conditions well. We should have bowled but the captain had some different instinct,” Kulkarni said after the game.

Krishnamachari Srikkanth slams Sulakshan Kulkarni:

Several former cricketers from Tamil Nadu have slammed Kulkarni for publicly criticising the captain and Krishnamachari Srikkanth has also taken shots at him. In a video posted on his YouTube channel, the former cricketer called the criticism unfair and urged the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) not to recruit coaches from outside the state.

“This is absolutely not fair. Dear TNCA, please do not recruit such coaches from outside (the state),” said Krishnamachari Srikkanth.

Earlier, the likes of Hemang Badani and Dinesh Karthik had also criticized Kulkarni for his comments.

Oh boy the coach Sulakshan Kulkarni has thrown the captain Sai Kishore under the bus. Whatever happens in a team environment stays there and you don’t set the captain on fire and go public about this. Good coaches don’t do that. #MumvsTn #RanjiTrophy

— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani) March 5, 2024

This is soo WRONG

This is so disappointing from the coach ..instead of backing the captain who has brought the team to the semis after 7 yrs and thinking it's a start for good things to happen, the coach has absolutely thrown his captain and team under the bus

👎🏽👎🏽👎🏽👎🏽👎🏽 https://t.co/Ii61X7Ajqs

— DK (@DineshKarthik) March 5, 2024

Meanwhile, the Times of India has reported that the TNCA is disappointed with Kulkarni for his comments towards the captain.

“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,” a TNCA official told the news outlet.