da cassino online： Anil Kumble speaks of preparation and dedication in the wake of victory in his first Test as India’s captain
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan in Delhi26-Nov-2007
“We created pressure by suffocating them and not giving runs” – Anil Kumble, leading from the front, sums up India’s victory in the first Test at Delhi © AFP
There are various ways to celebrate a Test win. Anil Kumble’s firsttriumph as Indian captain, a hard-fought one at the Feroz Shah Kotla,involved “a 15-minute training session with Greg King [the trainer]”.Kumble mentioned it more in jest but it summed up India’s attitude in thismatch: staying focussed, fighting hard and not giving up. Ever imaginedKumble guzzling a bottle of champagne and dancing around in a frenzy? Nowthat’s just not cricket.One Test is too little a time frame to judge anything, leave alone thecomplex art that is captaincy, but Kumble has already given a fewindicators. Before the match, he had written about a document he waspreparing for the side, a mission statement that would set the agenda. Andby the end, it was clear that one side was responding far better to theirleader than the other. Kumble himself made a big impact on the game,something that couldn’t be said about Shoaib Malik, his counterpart who’sbeen under fire.Kumble entrusted Sourav Ganguly with the role of a genuine third seamer,bowling him for a long spell in the first innings and giving him the newball in the second. He admitted that too much was being read into thelatter move but revealed that it was one taken at the spur of the moment.”I just wanted to change ends to Munaf,” he said. “I wanted to bowl thatover but said, why not try Sourav. After a couple of balls from him, Idecided to take the new ball. And he got two wickets. Then, when they werenine down, it was for me to finish it off.”Harbhajan Singh’s case was slightly different. He bowled him in shortspells in the first innings before giving him an extended run on the thirdafternoon. Harbhajan himself had spoken about “wanting to bowl longer” butKumble said it all came down to the nature of the surface. “As a spinbowler I understand the importance of bowling spells. I can put my hand upand say I’m qualified to take a decision on that. Even I bowled five overand six over spells. It was a pitch that was slow and low, without muchbounce. Sometimes I felt the fast bowlers needed to bowl long spells. Butwhen I gave him [Harbajhan] a long spell he provided us with wickets.”An unmistakable feature of the Test, though, was India’s ability to hangin their and chip away at the opposition. The bowlers stuck to their tasksthroughout and wrenched back the initiative just when it appeared lost.Did Pakistan bat badly or were India just good enough to make it appearthat way? “Every batsmen would like to think he self-destructed,” Kumble saidwith a wry smile. “But we created that kind of pressure. Zaheerbowled exceptionally well in both innings and bowled with reverse swing.We created pressure by suffocating them and not giving runs. When you knowyou need to get one wicket and it comes in the first over, it helps.”