Kumble contradicts Kohli on Pujara

Sydney: Former Australia cricketer Max Walker, whose awkward and unorthodox bowling action earned him the nickname Tangles, has died. He was 68. Cricket Australia on Wednesday said Walker died after a battle with cancer.

Walker played 34 test matches between 1972 and 1977, taking 138 wickets at an average of 27.47, including six five-wicket hauls. He also took 20 wickets in 17 one-day internationals from 1974-81.

Walker was a useful batsman who scored 586 runs at 19.53 including an unbeaten 78 in his final test against England at the Oval. After retiring from cricket he became a commentator, a popular raconteur and a bestselling author whose humorous books included How To Hypnotise Chooks And Other Great Yarns. In 2011, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to cricket and for his social work.

Keith Stackpole, who played with Walker in 13 tests and captained him in the Victoria state team, said Walker was under-estimated because he played in the shadow of the great fast bowlers Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. “He was loved around the world by teammates and opponents alike and to my mind seriously underestimated,” Stackpole told the Daily Telegraph. “You think of Thommo and Lillee as the tearaways, whereas ‘Tang’ was a medium pacer with the biggest heart I have come across on the cricket field. Once he realized he wasn’t a fast bowler, as distinct from a medium fast bowler, he became a very, very good player.”

Greg Chappell, who played with Walker in 34 tests, recalled the unusual, wrongfooted action surprised batsmen. “The right arm over left earhole is how he described his bowling,” Chappell said. “Maybe Mike Proctor and Lance Cairns were similar but part of Max’s distinguishing feature was his unusual action, meaning batsmen were never always sure where the ball was coming.”

Walker had been a successful Australian Rules football player in Melbourne before concentrating on cricket. He started as a batsman but realized his strength lay as a bowler. Walker took 12 wickets in his first two test matches, including 6-15 from 16 overs in the second innings of the second test against Pakistan at Sydney in 1973. Pakistan needed only 158 to win and was 83-3 until Walker’s match-winning spell.

On Australia’s subsequent tour to the West Indies, and after criticism of his selection, Walker took 26 wickets at 20.73, shouldering the heaviest bowling responsibility after Lillee and Bob Massie were lost to injuries.

Walker was a favorite among fans for his handlebar moustache and larger-than-life personality. “Tangles was one of the great fellows. A big loveable bear of a man who parlayed his talent, first as a footballer turned cricketer, and then with his bonhomie and ability to tell a good yarn, to set himself up for a wonderful career after cricket,” Chappell said. “He’d be the first to tell you it was a pretty good result for someone who trained as an architect but never really designed anything apart from what he would describe as a ‘few chicken coops.’

“He was a big man with a big heart, very likable, and a lot of fun to play cricket with.”

— ASSOCIATED PRESS AFTER THE Kanpur Test, India captain Virat Kohli had verified former chief selector Sandeep Patil’s revelation over Cheteshwar Pujara’s low strike-rate in West Indies. Two days later, at Eden Gardens, coach Anil Kumble seemed to have contradicted it. In fact, Kumble dismissed the strike-rate issue, saying that in Test cricket it’s only relevant for bowlers. “I’m a bit old fashioned. I know there’s a lot of strike-rate in the last eight years after the advent of T20. As far as I was concerned, when I was playing Test cricket, strike-rate was spoken about bowlers, not batsmen. That’s how I looked at it.

“In the team you need different characters, you need different quality players; you need different players with skill-sets that are suited to the challenges in a Test match. Because every session can be different in a Test match (and) we have seen that. And that’s the beauty of Test cricket. From my point of view, strike-rates are only relevant to bowlers in Test cricket, not the batsmen,” said Kumble.

Rewind to Green Park and what Kohli had said about Pujara’s slow going in the Caribbean. “In the West Indies, what we spoke about was the need for (upping the ante). Obviously he (Pujara) is someone who absorbs pressure really well, but after a certain stage in the innings there comes a time when the team needs a few runs in those situations and that’s where we felt that he has enough ability to capitalise. So it was just about conveying that to him. He has worked hard on his game. He scored at a good strikerate in Duleep Trophy and even on this wicket he was (at times) scoring at a 65, almost 70, strike-rate, which for me was a revelation.”

In Kanpur, Pujara had scored 62 and 78 in India’s 197-run victory with strike-rates of 56.88 and 51.31 respectively. It was serious upgrade on his 27.43 strike-rate in West Indies, where he made 16 off 67 balls in the first Test and 46 off 159 in the second before being dropped. And Patil revealed to a news channel that the skipper and coach and selectors spoke to the Saurashtra batsman about stepping on the gas.

Patil has been slammed by BCCI president Anurag Thakur for letting out the secret and today Kumble said he was satisfied with Pujara’s batting in the Caribbean. “You need to bat based on situations. Even in the first Test (in West Indies), Vijay got out cheaply. He (Pujara) and Shikhar had (a) good partnership till lunch, which was crucial for the team as we went into lunch losing only one wicket. We all know the importance of first session of a series. So the relevance of Pujara is there. I’m extremely surprised and a bit disappointed this talk keeps coming up. As long as someone reads the situation and plays according to the situation it’s okay. He is a very important cog in our plans. He has been successful. I know that he will continue to be successful.”

Interestingly, Kohli had said at Green Park that the team management told Pujara to get out of the shell. He even complimented Pujara for not sticking to his comfort zone.