Kumble assures with work on the basics
Although West Indies didn’t offer much fight, the new coach’s influence was very much apparent in India’s thumping victory
ST JOHN’S (ANTIGUA): There is something about West Indies and India’s coaches who begin their careers here. Duncan Fletcher did it in 2011, Anil Kumble begins now. However, in terms of impact, Kumble couldn’t have had a better beginning to this tour. While Virat Kohli was the captain on the field, Kumble clearly was the manager off it. While everyone saw Kumble taking pictures of the India team on way to its biggest victory outside Asia, the former India captain was also actively involved in the background, be it speaking to Ian Gould about the dismissal controversy of Marlon Samuels or ensuring the ones who missed out on the match didn’t miss out on practice.
Having been part of the India squad for along time, Kumble didn’t react much after their victory. He took out time to applaud the best performances while congratulating everyone for a superb team effort. “There was nothing out of the ordinary. Having played for so long I think he understands how the players feel about a victory. He congratulated everyone and gave special mention to the guys who made important contributions in the game,” said Kohli about Kumble after the match.
“It might not be seen too much but those important breakthroughs, important moments are very crucial for the team to win. He understands that very nicely and he was obviously very happy with the victory. It’s a great start for him. First game as coach and we end up winning by an innings. He was very happy all round,” said Kohli.
This Test has already witnessed R Ashwin gaining more confidence as an allrounder. And a lot of that credit goes to Kumble. “I need to thank Anil bhai and Virat for having the confidence in me to be pushed at number six. There have been times in the past when I’ve played really well and haven’t really got the promotion,” Ashwin had said after his century.
It looks like Kumble is happier working from the background. And he had made that clear while taking up the job in Bengaluru. “At this point in time, I thought I can get close to the bowlers, for a start,” Kumble had said. “At this point in time, I thought that with the bowlers, it is the strategy that I can certainly play a part of and that’s something which I am looking at, trying to get closer to the bowlers, understanding what their needs are and then looking at probably bringing in, if you are looking at a fast bowling coach I think is what you are trying to say. There are considerations that I am thinking of but at this point, I don’t know if it will be possible to take someone to the West Indies. If that doesn’t happen, then certainly I am keen to look at the bowlers. I feel that that is certainly an area where I can contribute a lot more,” Kumble had said before leaving for this tour.
But what seems to be a given is that this bowling unit is going to learn tighter bowling under Kumble. Before the final day, Kumble he was seen working in tandem with R Ashwin and Amit Mishra, asking them to pitch the ball inside two cones in front of the stumps. And when victory was done and dusted, he went out with Ravindra Jadeja, Stuart Binny and Shardul Thakur, making them hit those areas once again on the main pitch on Sunday.
“As a coach, all I sought was organised preparations for the team and informed inputs to the captain and the team to strategise better inclusive of every player. You have to include every player. It’s not about just the 11 who are to play. Also about the six or seven who are not going to play,” he had said.