Anil Kumble's Captaincy might cost us this test match.

[Fontaine]

Firstly I think Anil Kumble is probably one of the greatest Indian bowlers of all time. But, this guy is making a mockery of captaincy and his poor decision making, lack of foresight, and predictable, incompetent field placings is making a joke of our cricket team. 1. Sharma was getting the ball to swing even on this flat surface. Zaheer Khan was getting the ball to reverse swing. How important could Munaf Patel or a third seamer have been in this test match? 2. The Aussi Batsmen are targetting Ganguly as a fielder time and time again. Singles turn to doubles and the batsmen clearly are going after him. Ganguly would have to score 40-50 runs just to break even for his pathetic fielding that has given away runs and more importantly let off pressure from the batsmen. Why the hell did Kumble pick this broken down, selfish, unathletic, tired old man over a fifth bowler or athletic fielder/batsmen again? Ganguly himself allows 40 or so extra runs because of his piss poor fielding. He would have to score 80-90 runs to make a real contribution to the team given his awful fielding. Was it worth it to pick this guy over a fifth bowler who could make use of the new ball for longer and help in reverse swing, or an athletic fielder/batsmen like Kaif or Rohit Sharma? 3. Allowing guys the batsmen to easily get a single off the last ball. Lee is and Kumble is keeping the field back on the last delivery allowing Hussey to get an easy single and keep the strike. What kind of nonsense is this? 4. Not Slapping Harbhajan in the face. Bhajji isn't a part time bowler. He's supposed to be on of the main strike spin bowlers. So why the hell is he allowed to bowl negatively at the leg stump? How the hell is he going to pick up a wicket there? And just as importantly why did Kumble let him do it for so long? ALL of the above problems are BASIC decisions and issues ANY captain has to deal with. Kumble has failed in each one and just as importantly he looks toothless for some time but he gets his two spinners time and time again and now they can't even pick up tail enders like Lee. Our fast bowlers are the ONLY reason why Australia isn't dominating us and it was the same down under. Yet Kumble, stupidly and stubbornly shows ZERO faith in them and like a stubborn mule picks the same tired old combination of two spinners and only two fast bowlers, no matter how ineffective Harbhajan Singh is.

[DomainK]

Cost us the match? The match isnt over yet. But yes, his captaincy has been very ordinary.

[DomainK]

Firstly I think Anil Kumble is probably one of the greatest Indian bowlers of all time. But, this guy is making a mockery of captaincy and his poor decision making, lack of foresight, and predictable, incompetent field placings is making a joke of our cricket team. 1. Sharma was getting the ball to swing even on this flat surface. Zaheer Khan was getting the ball to reverse swing. How important could Munaf Patel or a third seamer have been in this test match? 2. The Aussi Batsmen are targetting Ganguly as a fielder time and time again. Singles turn to doubles and the batsmen clearly are going after him. Ganguly would have to score 40-50 runs to compensate for his pathetic fielding that has given away runs and more importantly let off pressure from the batsmen. Why the hell did we pick this guy over a fifth bowler or athletic fielder again? 3. Allowing guys the batsmen to easily get a single off the last ball. Lee is and Kumble is keeping the field back on the last delivery allowing Hussey to get an easy single and keep the strike. What kind of nonsense is this? 4. Not kicking Harbhajan up the *****. Bhajji isn't a part time bowler. He's supposed to be on of the main strike spin bowlers. So why the hell is he allowed to bowl negatively at the leg stump? How the hell is he going to pick up a wicket there? And just as importantly why did Kumble let him do it for so long? ALL of the above problems are BASIC decisions and issues ANY captain has to deal with. Kumble has failed in each one and just as importantly he looks toothless for some time but he gets his two spinners time and time again and now they can't even pick up tail enders like Lee. Our fast bowlers are the ONLY reason why Australia isn't dominating us and it was the same down under. Yet Kumble, stupidly and stubbornly show ZERO faith in them and like a stubborn mule picks the same tired old combination of two spinners and only two fast bowlers.

You are being too harsh here. The first two points are meaningless. You make the first point after watching some of the match. Kumble had to take a decision before that. However he should have and could have used Zaheer and Ishant much better on day1. Your second point is nonsense. You know well that he did not have a choice but pick dada. I hope dada makes up for that with a double ton. But, yes, his captaincy has been bad.

[Fontaine]

You are being too harsh here. The first two points are meaningless. You make the first point after watching some of the match. Kumble had to take a decision before that. However he should have and could have used Zaheer and Ishant much better on day1. Your second point is nonsense. You know well that he did not have a choice but pick dada. I hope dada makes up for that with a double ton. But, yes, his captaincy has been bad.

I disagree, Ganguly was always an un athletic, un inspiring fielder who would visibly give up chasing the ball. Everyone knew this and expected the Australians to target him as a fielder. Other captains made it clear they wanted specific young athletic players regardless of what the selection committee has said to them and they got the team they wanted. The guy was even dropped from the Irani trophy. But Kumble shows no such mental fortitude. It would have been so much wiser to not pick Ganguly for the first three tests and then pick him for the last one as a symbolic gesture so he could have retired with the proper sendoff. BUT PICKING HIM RIGHT FROM THE FIRST TEST BINDS KUMBLE TO CONTINUE PICKING HIM FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES. Do you see how stupid that is? Now Kumble can't just drop Ganguly no matter how poorly he fields and plays because it'll cause a huge controversy that will over shadow the series. Stupid, stupid, stupid!!! But you're right about one thing, Ganguly WILL have to score a lot of runs because he's given away so many with his piss poor fielding. The guy has an average of 40 but in reality his contribution to the team as a batsmen is a lot less.

[Fontaine]

Cost us the match? The match isnt over yet. But yes' date=' his captaincy has been very ordinary.[/quote'] India is playing the best side in the world. Not bangladesh. Every session counts, every opportunity matters. The match isn't over yet, but Kumble has already put this team behind.

[Fontaine]

149.5 Khan to Hussey, OUT, Zak has done it again. A bit wider this time, swinging in again, with the shine, Hussey goes for a drive, but gets an inside edge onto middle stump. What an innings, though. His best score against India, and all through the innings he has never looked like getting out MEK Hussey b Khan 146 (276b 15x4 1x6) SR: 52.89 149.4 Khan to Hussey, no run, a bit too much of swing this time, carrying the ball down the leg side, and Hussey misses out on it 149.3 Khan to Hussey, no run, reverse swing again, and accurate too. But Hussey is settles in enough to defend the ball, which was moving in towards the stumps Khan to Johnson, OUT, Zak you beauty, big reverse swing! Full, around off stump, swinging in towards Johnson, and swinging in late. Inside edge takes the off stump out

Again, and again, and again. More reverse swing and yet Ishant Sharma for the second time doesn't get a chance to bowl. This is our tallest, fastest bowler and he hasn't been given A SINGLE OVER when the ball was reverse swinging with the two balls. Instead we have Kumble on the other end giving away boundaries. :(( How stupid is this? Every intelligent cricket fan knows that there's a good chance of reverse swing in the subcontinent with dry pitches and yet Kumble has no clue. Munaf Patel could have come and gotten some reverse maybe. It's not like Kumble doesn't have experience, he was bowling when guys like Wasim/Waqar etc were getting reverse swing consistently. If we had better captaincy then Munaf/Ishant/Khan would have used the reverse swing at around the 80th over for at least 6-8 overs of reverse and taken wickets, THEN used the new ball on the tailenders instead of giving up 450 runs.

[DomainK]

Again, and again, and again. More reverse swing and yet Ishant Sharma for the second time doesn't get a chance to bowl. This is our tallest, fastest bowler and he hasn't been given A SINGLE OVER when the ball was reverse swinging with the two balls. Instead we have Kumble on the other end giving away boundaries. :(( How stupid is this? Every intelligent cricket fan knows that there's a good chance of reverse swing in the subcontinent with dry pitches and yet Kumble has no clue. Munaf Patel could have come and gotten some reverse maybe. It's not like Kumble doesn't have experience, he was bowling when guys like Wasim/Waqar etc were getting reverse swing consistently. If we had better captaincy then Munaf/Ishant/Khan would have used the reverse swing at around the 80th over for at least 6-8 overs of reverse and taken wickets, THEN used the new ball on the tailenders instead of giving up 450 runs.

Bang on with that one Fontaine. Kumble is dumb really.

[Fontaine]

All I can hope for is that Khan grabs Dhoni and Sehwag in the dressing room by their collars and says: "That's called reverse swing, and it's how you bowl and win in the subcontinent. Make a note of it, because when you're captain and vice captain, this is HOW YOU BOWL." :whack::whack::whack: No use in explaining it to Kumble who doesn't have a clue. Kumble: 43 overs, 129 runs, 0 Wickets Harbhajan: 41 overs, 103 runs, 1 Wicket and useless Ishant/Zaheer did the man's job here. Once again our spinners sucked and the fast bowlers got zero help from the captain. Crappy field placings, crappy fielding by Ganguly, and crappy management of the new ball/reverse swing. Get the hell away from my team Kumble.

[SachDan]

If Ganguly is under the microscope for the next two tests even after announcing his retirement.. so should be Kumble.

[Fontaine]

If Ganguly is under the microscope for the next two tests even after announcing his retirement.. so should be Kumble.

Everyone is under the microscope. That's the whole point. Look every players has faults and weakenesses. The point is what do they bring to the test side that can offset those faults and be of benefit to the TEAM. Kumble rightly should be under scrutiny. His bowling in itself has been ineffective for some time and his captaincy is regressing so ofcourse in my opinion he needs to be dropped. Ganguly's poor fielding took off pressure from the batsmen and allowed a lot of extra runs which should have been cut off. Now he has to make up for it by batting extremely well. If he doesn't then he should be dropped. It's not rocket science. You analyze and measure the pitch conditions and the other team prior to the match. Any one of us would have said BEFORE the match that Australia would pack their side with batsmen because they have no spinners, and the new ball as well as reverse swing would be all important. Spin would only factor in the last two days. Everybody knew this, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Apart from Anil Dumble.

[chanakya]

to be more specific. Taking the new ball yesterday when Zaheer started reversing the old ball yesterday was a shocker.

[Fontaine]

Fumble(s) of the day There were no bloopers in the field yesterday and the first one this morning came from arguably the poorest fielder in the Indian team. Sourav Ganguly was fielding at mid-off and ran a few paces to his right to field a firm drive from Michael Hussey. The ball burst through his fingers and went between his legs towards the boundary. Ganguly chased but the gap between him and the ball grew steadily. In the next over, Haddin capitalised on the weakest link by pushing the ball towards mid-off. He began to run and a fumble from Ganguly ensured he didn't even have to hurry.

What a clown Ganguly is on the field. Before I went to work, I estimated he had allowed an extra 40-50 runs over the first two days of this test match so I didn't see the last one above. Kumble picked this loser on the team over a younger more athletic player or a fifth bowler. Ganguly better go on to score a lot of runs this series because he'll be gifting runs to Australia all the time.

[Fontaine]

Read this latest article by Cricinfo on the match: http://content-www.cricinfo.com/indvaus2008/content/current/story/373360.html It highlights what I've been saying for the past few months. The article specifically mentions what I've been saying about our bowling and even mentions Munaf Patel. Damnit Kumble!!! It's about time Cricinfo caught up with me!! lol!

[Ram]

I dont think we've ever gone into the first test of a home series with 3 pacers and I dont see why they should have done it here again. Its all very nice to be wise AFTER the event and say and he should have picked 3 seamers, but where was this criticism when the eleven was announced?

[Lord]

Firstly I think Anil Kumble is probably one of the greatest Indian bowlers of all time. But, this guy is making a mockery of captaincy and his poor decision making, lack of foresight, and predictable, incompetent field placings is making a joke of our cricket team. 1. Sharma was getting the ball to swing even on this flat surface. Zaheer Khan was getting the ball to reverse swing. How important could Munaf Patel or a third seamer have been in this test match? 2. The Aussi Batsmen are targetting Ganguly as a fielder time and time again. Singles turn to doubles and the batsmen clearly are going after him. Ganguly would have to score 40-50 runs just to break even for his pathetic fielding that has given away runs and more importantly let off pressure from the batsmen. Why the hell did Kumble pick this broken down, selfish, unathletic, tired old man over a fifth bowler or athletic fielder/batsmen again? Ganguly himself allows 40 or so extra runs because of his piss poor fielding. He would have to score 80-90 runs to make a real contribution to the team given his awful fielding. Was it worth it to pick this guy over a fifth bowler who could make use of the new ball for longer and help in reverse swing, or an athletic fielder/batsmen like Kaif or Rohit Sharma? 3. Allowing guys the batsmen to easily get a single off the last ball. Lee is and Kumble is keeping the field back on the last delivery allowing Hussey to get an easy single and keep the strike. What kind of nonsense is this? 4. Not Slapping Harbhajan in the face. Bhajji isn't a part time bowler. He's supposed to be on of the main strike spin bowlers. So why the hell is he allowed to bowl negatively at the leg stump? How the hell is he going to pick up a wicket there? And just as importantly why did Kumble let him do it for so long? ALL of the above problems are BASIC decisions and issues ANY captain has to deal with. Kumble has failed in each one and just as importantly he looks toothless for some time but he gets his two spinners time and time again and now they can't even pick up tail enders like Lee. Our fast bowlers are the ONLY reason why Australia isn't dominating us and it was the same down under. Yet Kumble, stupidly and stubbornly shows ZERO faith in them and like a stubborn mule picks the same tired old combination of two spinners and only two fast bowlers, no matter how ineffective Harbhajan Singh is.

dunno everybody is going mad at jumbo.no body, even the best skip in the world wudnt play 5 bowlers if they dont have a allrounder. spin was supposed to be aussie weakness,specially in india,so had to pick bhajji.also picking a athletic batsman over ganguly is concerned,you cant drop dada if he is in the squad,so we must blame srikanth & co. rather than kumble

[Dinx - the Jinx]

@ Fontaine - if yo're so much brilliant, why dont you become the captain? you sound non-sense... the only mistake kumble has committed in this match is not winning the toss. yet, aussies dint run away with a very huge total in my opinion. 430 in 150 overs at less than 3 per over isn't that bad frm indian perspective. had india won the toss and batted for 5 sessions and a few overs after that, yo wudn't hve got a chance to have a dig at kumble like what you are doing now. was sitting with a few aussies today and had a chat with them. have a look at their perspective at the end of 2nd day's play 1. Australia have batted very defensively and it doesn't make any sense to bat so slow on a wicket like this, that too on the first two days. 2. Ponting (123 off 243 balls) and Hussey (146 off 276) have batted very selfishly. They dint look to accelerate at any point and even when they did, the indian bowlers did well to pick up wickets and slow down the scoring rate. 3. Picking Shane Watson was a mistake, as he'sn't test material. Aussie bowlers are going to be carted around the park tomm. 4. Indian spinners are going to be lethal in the second innings when the pitch breaks up. Unless we (Australia) get a big enough lead, match will be India's. Thats why we are so frustrated about our slow batting. Having played 150 overs, we should have scored atleast 550 I just hope that their fears do come true.

[Lord]

@ Fontaine - if yo're so much brilliant' date= why dont you become the captain? you sound non-sense... the only mistake kumble has committed in this match is not winning the toss. yet, aussies dint run away with a very huge total in my opinion. 430 in 150 overs at less than 3 per over isn't that bad frm indian perspective. had india won the toss and batted for 5 sessions and a few overs after that, yo wudn't hve got a chance to have a dig at kumble like what you are doing now. was sitting with a few aussies today and had a chat with them. have a look at their perspective at the end of 2nd day's play 1. Australia have batted very defensively and it doesn't make any sense to bat so slow on a wicket like this, that too on the first two days. 2. Ponting (123 off 243 balls) and Hussey (146 off 276) have batted very selfishly. They dint look to accelerate at any point and even when they did, the indian bowlers did well to pick up wickets and slow down the scoring rate. 3. Picking Shane Watson was a mistake, as he'sn't test material. Aussie bowlers are going to be carted around the park tomm. 4. Indian spinners are going to be lethal in the second innings when the pitch breaks up. Unless we (Australia) get a big enough lead, match will be India's. Thats why we are so frustrated about our slow batting. Having played 150 overs, we should have scored atleast 550 I just hope that their fears do come true.

agree,so easy to criticise in hindsight

[zubinpepsi]

@ Fontaine - if yo're so much brilliant, why dont you become the captain? you sound non-sense... the only mistake kumble has committed in this match is not winning the toss. yet, aussies dint run away with a very huge total in my opinion. 430 in 150 overs at less than 3 per over isn't that bad frm indian perspective. had india won the toss and batted for 5 sessions and a few overs after that, yo wudn't hve got a chance to have a dig at kumble like what you are doing now. was sitting with a few aussies today and had a chat with them. have a look at their perspective at the end of 2nd day's play 1. Australia have batted very defensively and it doesn't make any sense to bat so slow on a wicket like this, that too on the first two days. 2. Ponting (123 off 243 balls) and Hussey (146 off 276) have batted very selfishly. They dint look to accelerate at any point and even when they did, the indian bowlers did well to pick up wickets and slow down the scoring rate. 3. Picking Shane Watson was a mistake, as he'sn't test material. Aussie bowlers are going to be carted around the park tomm. 4. Indian spinners are going to be lethal in the second innings when the pitch breaks up. Unless we (Australia) get a big enough lead, match will be India's. Thats why we are so frustrated about our slow batting. Having played 150 overs, we should have scored atleast 550 I just hope that their fears do come true.

aww u really sound ignorant (very).. if u think that indian spinners gonna be lethal in the 2nd innings..then keep living in the la la land... they didnot do jack in SL where M&M sweeped the the whole indian batsmen.. so what makes u think that they gonna b lethal here.. keep living in the glory of his 600 wkts bs.... it wasnt not in hindsight fontaine is talking.. he has very valid points abt Kumbles the Sh,itty captain.. and u dont have answers to his qns . do u??

[SachDan]

aww u really sound ignorant (very).. if u think that indian spinners gonna be lethal in the 2nd innings..then keep living in the la la land... they didnot do jack in SL where M&M sweeped the the whole indian batsmen.. so what makes u think that they gonna b lethal here.. keep living in the glory of his 600 wkts bs.... it wasnt not in hindsight fontaine is talking.. he has very valid points abt Kumbles the Sh,itty captain.. and u dont have answers to his qns . do u??

Very funny post by dinakkar...for him only mistake Kumble did was not winning the toss :hysterical:

[Lord]

aww u really sound ignorant (very).. if u think that indian spinners gonna be lethal in the 2nd innings..then keep living in the la la land... they didnot do jack in SL where M&M sweeped the the whole indian batsmen.. so what makes u think that they gonna b lethal here.. keep living in the glory of his 600 wkts bs.... it wasnt not in hindsight fontaine is talking.. he has very valid points abt Kumbles the Sh,itty captain.. and u dont have answers to his qns . do u??

like wat?if u look at our 'your 11 for ist test',most have same squad .fontaine is taliking in hindsight