My company's ties with players not commercial: Kumble

[1]

Former India Test captain Anil Kumble said his firm Tenvic is a player management company which does not benefit commercially from the players' success. Rather, it works on its own expense to mentor the youngsters.

Kumble, who is the president of Karnataka State Cricket Association as well as the chairman of the National Cricket Academy, has been said to be running a player management firm called Tenvic that mentors and looks after the commercial interests of several Karnataka players, including S. Aravind and Vinay Kumar, who are both members of the Indian One-day squad.

Kumble denies any case of conflict of interest and said had he been running a talent management company, he would have gone for top cricketers and not budding talent, adding the benefit goes only to the player and not to his company.

"I would like to certainly clarify that I am no player-manager, nor is my company a talent management company. That needs to be very clear. If I was a businessman, if I was looking after a talent management company, then I would go after the top international stars," Kumble said during a TV interview.

"If I wanted to benefit, or if the company wanted to benefit, I have access to the Sachin Tendulkars, the Dhonis, the Yuvraj Singhs and everyone else, so why should I look at a youngster? That's the last thing I want.

"In fact, at Tenvic, it's an expense for the company in terms of mentoring these people. We have already conducted some psychometric tests, which incur costs and that cost is to the company; it's not to the player. And the benefit of all this goes to the player, nothing to the company," he said.

Kumble said if tomorrow a player identified by his firm becomes successful, he would bring no commercial benefit to his company.

"I am more than happy that he goes on to play. That's all I am looking at. I am looking at the best interest of that player and hopefully he will go on and represent (India).

"It's just a sports mechanism for all these players and I think that's the need of the hour. If you look at any sport, at least in cricket the world over, I don't think anybody has attempted this."

One of the directors of the Kumble's company was quoted as saying: "It does not make sense for us to mentor the player if we are not going to look after his commercial interest". Kumble dismissed this as "only incidental."

"It's only incidental. As of today, there has been no transaction between the company and a player wherein the company has benefited out of a player commercially. And if there is a talent management company who wants to represent Vinay, Aravind and other Indian cricketers we have, please feel free.

"If that is what is against me, there is absolutely no conflict."