Former India captain and coach Anil Kumble turned 47 on Tuesday. Not surprisingly, it became in exercise in former cricketers and fans alike hailing the leg-spinner’s exploits with the ball during his playing days.

Kumble continues to remain as India’s all-time highest wicket-taker with 956 scalps to his name. Elsewhere, Virat Kohli’s side are riding an all-time high, having registered handsome wins against Sri Lanka and Australia in recent months. Twitter can be an unforgiving place irrespective of a person’s stature and some folks were quick to dig up dirt from Kumble’s acrimonious fallout with Kohli, which led to the former stepping down from his post.

Quite incredibly, birthday wishes were split into two camps. The old guard of the Indian team, comprising of Sachin Tendukar, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman and Harbhajan Singh, who joined hands with Kumble to set up many an Indian win, were among the first to send in their wishes. Former Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist too, joined in.

....and then came the uncomfortable part. All eyes were on whether the India captain and Kumble would exchange pleasantries. Clearly, expecting that from someone who quite inexplicably deleted a welcome tweet after tensions spilled over in July was a step too far.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India, meanwhile, shot themselves in the foot by conveniently leaving out Kumble’s captaincy or coaching credentials that he has on his CV. BCCI frantically tried to repair the damage, deleting the tweet after being on the receiving end of a public backlash:

BCCI would later modify that to..

The current lot – torn, confused and awkward

The focus then shifted to ones who still sent their wishes. Since Kumble’s exit, none of the current crop of Indian players have opened up on what transpired behind one of the most high-profile player-coach breakdowns in recent history. At the time, Kohli was widely criticised at the culmination of the saga.

Days ago, it seemed as though senior batsman Suresh Raina inadvertently brought an end to his international career by praising Kumble’s influence in shaping left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav’s career. Raina and Yadav, send in their wishes. Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara and pacer Jasprit Bumrah were among a scarce few from India’s first-choice XI to touch base with their former coach. As Raina found out a few days ago, it merely provided an excuse for trolls to remark that Sharma, Pujara and Bumrah would go on to be benched in upcoming games.

And then, there were the ones with strong opinions on the Kohli-Kumble saga

October 17 also marks the birthday of one of one of the most classy batsmen to come out of the subcontinent, Sri Lankan World Cup winner Aravinda de Silva. Kumble and De Silva, as it turns out, have had quite a colourful history. The same can’t be said about Kumble and Kohli, though.