Skipper Kumble scripts vision for Team India

[DesiChap]

Kumble sets high standards By Rohit Brijnath If you're looking to describe Indian captain Anil Kumble, you reflexively pick serious. Not a guy with a propensity for dramatics, or a preference for ear piercings. In 1999, I spent a day with him after his 10-74 against Pakistan, and during a speech to school kids, like a young professor he stressed to them the value of the three D's. "Determination, discipline, dedication". Was this Mr Kumble? A businesslike, buttoned-up hero, the brand ambassador for, of all things, a university? A no-messing-around kind of guy who goes head-hunting with an old ball? But Anil Kumble is more than that. He's an emotional cricketer. Really. His face isn't blank, it's like a moving picture of rage (coming into bowl), annoyance (misfield off his bowling), desire (all day long), delight (any wicket). Ask him and he says: "I try and do everything I can to win". Businesslike? Maybe not. As a bowler, he won matches. As captain, he wants to leave something behind Here's another thing about Anil Kumble. He's amusing. Really. He's India's first bowler to be awarded the captaincy since Ravi Shastri got the gig for a single Test about 20 years ago. So it's fair to ask him if he's sick of the glorification of batsmen in India, to which he says, politely: "It's not the glorification of batsmen I object to, but the non-glorification of bowlers. We're never given the credit". 'Vision' Bowlers in India aren't viewed as ..well.. as sexy as batsmen, perhaps? "Well", he says, smiling down the phone, "we're not the pin-up boys. Don't sell soap or cola". I ask him if people have read him wrongly as a man, and he says: "I don't care as long as they read me wrongly when I'm bowling". The stern captain as comedian, who would believe it? I don't care as long as they read me wrongly when I'm bowling Anil Kumble Primarily, though, Kumble is as meticulous as he looks. If he agrees to an interview, he's there. On time. If you ask a question he's not prepared to reply to, say about a team-mate, his tone will inform you not to ask it again. He's what we expect Indian cricketers to become but few do. A professional. It's why when he arrived for the first Test against Pakistan he distributed what he terms "a document" among his players. What was in it? "What I expect from them. (That) this is what it takes to be part of the Indian team," he says. He then gave a document to the board, about which he says only this: it's about "how I want them to help me". Because there is no dishonesty to Kumble, he accepts that the calendar on his cricketing life is running out of pages. He's never been a make-up-the-numbers kind of cricketer, more a leave-an-imprint kind of sportsman. As a bowler, he won matches. As captain, he wants to leave something behind. He wants his document, call it a vision, to percolate down, he says, right to the under-15 level, so even young cricketers understand, early, what is required to be an Indian cricketer. Stuff like .... well, determination, dedication, discipline. 'Play fearless cricket' Kumble's words are familiar ("play fearless cricket", "team goals come first"), but a fresh voice can stir a dressing room. The spinner knows that egos can collide, misunderstandings can occur, this is the very nature of team. Perhaps it is why he stresses "it's an important thing to be transparent" and insists when problems arise he will "resolve the issue not the individual". What he means is, with him it's never going to be personal. He is a strongly commonsensical man, not one for cabals or conspiracies, and unsurprisingly stated to his team how he will captain. He told them "everyone will get a decent run"; he insisted "everyone will be clear about their role". He is attempting, as so many Indians captains have, to start something small. Change an attitude. Type the first lines towards India becoming a professional team in every sense of the word. Kumble is a fearless sportsman When you win, those philosophies are reinforced, and victory over Pakistan, despite their brittleness, was an encouraging beginning. But now, a bowler of intelligent fury is going to require all his strength, of shoulder and character, in Australia. Of all cricketing tests, this is the most revealing, for the remorseless Australians are adept at peeling back a man's weakness. Under their gaze, batsmen can look too old, bowlers too young and captains too uncertain. Unyielding It is fortunate that Kumble is unyielding, and anyone who remembers him from the time he sported a South Indian hero's moustache, and a Sanskrit professor's spectacles, knows that. In short order, the captain must sort out the opening conundrum (my opinion: leave Rahul at No.3), convince those openers Lee-Tait are just an Australian media myth, know when to take himself off and rest, return the sorcery to Harbhajhan's fingers, add a few kph to Pathan's delivery, keep the body language positive when the flies gather and Ponting bullies, and maintain his temper. Did I mention it's a good thing he has sturdy shoulders? Kumble has a vision for the team Kumble has taken 584 Test wickets (more than the rest of his bowlers combined) because he never accepted second-best from himself. He will not tolerate any less from his team. He should be judged fairly, not merely on victory but if his team competes intensely from Melbourne in late December to Adelaide in late January. Every match means a lot to Kumble at 37. It's why his face is so mobile. It's why he wrote that document. Junior cricketers in India should ask for it. But till it arrives they should simply watch their country's captain, for his life is a lesson in itself and can be told in three words he treasures. Dedication, discipline, determination. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7149229.stm