Player power, two words a coach needs to take heed of, make sure he stays on the right side of that power, which, when used, can take down anything and everyone in its path.
Anil Kumble didn't quite manage to find the right balance between getting his views across and keeping the players on board, particularly the India captain Virat Kohli. As a result, player power had its say, it came down in all its might and one of India's most successful coaches, despite only being there for year, saw his time come to an end.
When it comes to defining players in international sport, particularly the high-stakes one, you only need one word: Ego.
Ego is what defines an international cricketer, basketball player, footballer, tennis player.
Ego is what drives a player to be the greatest he/she can be. Just look at Cristiano Ronaldo, he wouldn't be one of the greatest players of all-time without that big-time ego.
Massage the ego
And the one thing you cannot do as a coach is hurt that ego; treat international players like schoolchildren. Unfortunately, that is precisely what Kumble did.
He played around with too much discipline and rules and that, at the end of the day, hurt the egos of the India players, particularly the biggest one going around at the moment.
Kohli, though, was not the only one who had issues with Kumble. It was pretty much the entire team, with the legendary leg-spinner, at the end of the day, finding very little support.
Player power is so powerful that it can end the tenure of any legend.
Player power in other sport
Jose Mourinho being a case in point. Chelsea's greatest ever manager and, a few months after leading the club to another English Premier League title, player power decided his time was up.
Claudio Ranieri, who had just guided Leicester City to the most fairytale of title wins in the Premier League, saw his time come to an end a few months later, when player power decided it was time to go.
LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers teammates decided David Blatt wasn't the right fit as coach, and down came the player power trademarked gauntlet and out he went.
If the players are not on board with your ideas, no matter how successful you are, how big a name you are, how many games you win, how many titles you clinch, your days will be numbered,
And that is what Kumble didn't quite realise soon enough.
Festering, festering, festering
The moment there was clear friction between him and Kohli and the rest of the players, he should have realised his style wasn't working, sat down with his players and found a way forward.
Instead, the issues festered and festered, nothing was done, with all of it coming out in the open when the BCCI advertised for the head coach's position, when, on merit, Kumble should have received a new contract.
From there it was all about "he said, he said," with the "sources" having a field day as one report after another came out highlighting the problems between Kumble and Kohli.
To give credit to both, neither made any public comments about the issue, with Kohli even flatly denying there was a problem when the question was put to him before the start of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017.
Kumble finally confirmed the issues within the team with a parting shot at Kohli in his goodbye statement, but if only India's leading wicket-taker of all-time had realised one thing sooner, all of this unnecessary nonsense could have been avoided – player power rules.
