ADVERTISEMENT

Career Choices That Make Anil Kumble The Best Man to Coach India

Because IF opposites attract, then Virat and Kumble should be just what Indian cricket needs.

(BCCI named Anil Kumble as India’s head coach on Thursday. This piece was written when Kumble had joined the head coach race, earlier in the month)

The race for the position of Indian head coach is really hotting up. The news that India’s most successful bowler ever, Anil Kumble, has applied for the post has most definitely raised the stakes. In some ways this has queered the pitch for the frontrunner, Ravi Shastri.

Steely Determination

What sets Kumble apart from any of the other candidates is his body of achievements as a player.

He was an institution in terms of his work ethic, hard work and diligence. His ability to keep fighting marked him out from the other cricketers. If ever you needed someone who has stumbled, got up and achieved laurels, to teach the same to youngsters, then Kumble is the man.

India’s Anil Kumble bowls with a tennis ball to children under the grandstand while waiting for the weather to clear before the first test against New Zealand at Carisbrook, Dunedin December 18, 1998 (Photo: Reuters)
India’s Anil Kumble bowls with a tennis ball to children under the grandstand while waiting for the weather to clear before the first test against New Zealand at Carisbrook, Dunedin December 18, 1998 (Photo: Reuters)

Written Off Early On

When he arrived in 1990, former Indian captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi felt that he could be at best a restrictive bowler. But in only his third ODI, Kumble claimed a man of the match on the England tour of 1990. So enamored were the English, that the BBC commentator Brian Johnston coined a nickname ‘Apple Crumble’ for him. He then went out of the side, only to come back with a bang.

The Bangalore spinner fought critics all through his cricketing career, but with his performances. He responded to opinions like that of former England coach Keith Fletcher of ‘not being able to turn from leg to off’, by claiming 21 wickets to knock the visitors down 3-0 in 1992-93. They called him a medium-pacer, non-spinner and all that, but Kumble ploughed away, never getting into a scrap.

The best part of Kumble’s career was that the fight and aggression was in his eyes, rather than his mouth, except with Inzamam-ul-Haq in 2003-04.

Anil Kumble at the awards ceremony after India lost an ODI to Zimbabwe in March, 2002. (Photo: Reuters)
Anil Kumble at the awards ceremony after India lost an ODI to Zimbabwe in March, 2002. (Photo: Reuters)

Calm Under Pressure

Kumble’s wicket-taking abilities, his match-winning spells including ten-wicket haul are all part of cricketing folklore. The image of him bowling with a bandage all over his face in 2002 at Antigua is forever recalled as a moment of grit. Kumble’s biggest achievement was in being able to reinvent with time like he did from the 2003-04 Australia tour onwards. It showed that even that stage he was willing to imbibe and evolve. Towards the end, his calm demeanour and composure as India Test captain especially in the wake of the Monkeygate scandal in 2007-08 is still lauded by all.

Unusual Pairing in The Dressing Room

With a CV like his , it is hard to ignore Kumble as he vies to become India’s next head coach.

In an era where the Test squad is likely to have uncertain youngsters and an over the top captain in Virat Kohli, Kumble will be the balm that soothes nerves. Kumble has the stature and the position in Indian cricket to make a young squad learn from him. He has been there and done that. He has encountered failures more than successes, so he will understand the mindset of an average young Indian cricketer.

Indian cricket would be well served if the reins of the side are handed to him. If ever the theory of opposites attract has to be tested, then it can be in no better era than this with Kumble as coach and Kohli as captain. Both are as different as chalk and cheese, making it the ideal combination to take Indian cricket forward.

Eye on The Job

While Shastri was also a dogged cricketer, Kumble will never be prone to making bombastic statements which distracts from the job on hand. In many ways, Kumble is an old-fashioned nuts and bolts cricketer who will be the perfect fit at this stage in Indian cricket.