Dear Mr.Kumble ... I think its time for you to step down

[bharat297]

You have been a great servant for Indian cricket but this series has clearly shown that having you in the team has actually placed the team at a disadvantage. In the 2 matches that you have been there, our bowlers have struggled to take 20 wickets and in the match that you werent, we bowled Australia out for 268 and 195. It pains me to say this because you are one of the finest cricketers India has produced but this was a wicket tailor-made for your type of bowling and yet despite that Sehwag and Mishra have looked more dangerous. Add to that the fact that our most promising moments in the field in this series have been under Dhoni's captaincy. If you retire after this match, you will be forever deemed a hero and this could be one of the most selfless acts one could do but I think its clearly time now. Most cricketers retire in their late 30s anyway, so its no shame in stepping down. You have had a wonderful career as no doubt INDIA's GREATEST EVER SPINNER. Please step down ... Hand Dhoni the captaincy and let Mishra and Bhajji take over the role as the main spinners.

[bharat297]

Having said that ... I will be more than happy to eat my words if you can prove me wrong this match.

[Fontaine]

Kumble has bowled 68 overs in this series without a wicket. Sorry Anil, if we were playing Bangladesh or some other minnow team like Pakistan then it would be different and we could carry you on the team. But this is the Border Gavasker trophy!!!

[King Tendulkar]

Give him a break chaps. He has not even been on the pitch for most of the day cos of injury and he is getting slaughtered

[bharat297]

^ I understand that and thats why I am prepared to cut him a bit of slack but he took the last match off so he could be fully fit for this one and now he is spending most of the time off the field when we need him bowling and taking us wickets. Please Anil ... either prove me wrong or please gracefully hand over the reigns.

[King Tendulkar]

Difficult to prove you wrong when not on the pitch. Wait till game is over and 2nd innings bowling is done before sticking the knife in:winky:

[Shane]

Having said that ... I will be more than happy to eat my words if you can prove me wrong this match.

How i wish that happens !!!

[Fontaine]

Give him a break chaps. He has not even been on the pitch for most of the day cos of injury and he is getting slaughtered

No thanks. In the last three series played in India and Sri Lanka on spinning tracks Kumble has bowled 300.5 overs for 12 wickets at an average of 71.16!! He's not only a liability on the field but an average captain as well. It would be different if we didnt' have a replacement but Mishra has shown he can take over as the next legspinner. I would understand if he was unluckly or got tracks that didn't turn. But that's not the case. These figures aren't from England, South Africa. They're from Indian and Sri Lankan tracks where other spinners in the same matches have dominated.

[bharat297]

Difficult to prove you wrong when not on the pitch. Wait till game is over and 2nd innings bowling is done before sticking the knife in:winky:

Will do ... And I sincerely hope we witness a Kumble resurgence . He is one of my fav players in Indian cricket history.

[DomainK]

Whether we win this game or not, whether Kumble comes back and takes wickets or not, he should step down immediately after this series.

[Fontaine]

Whether we win this game or not' date=' whether Kumble comes back and takes wickets or not, he should step down immediately after this series.[/quote'] Agreed. Kumble has got to go. His captaincy was awful today. Why the hell did he wait till the 40th/50th over to bowl Sehwag? Even casual Indian cricket fans know Sehwag routinely gets MORE turn than Bhajji and Kumble. Kumble once again underutilized his part time bowlers and only brought on Sehwag one over before lunch. Then after lunch Sehwag bowled another four and Kumble TOOK HIM OFF when he was clearly getting great turn. What happened next? Kumble put himself on, got hurt and went off the field. Dhoni immediately brings back Sehwag and bowls him fully and Sehwag immediately gets the breakthrough and two more wickets. I'm sorry to say that if Kumble hadn't gotten hurt, Australia would have been 300+ for maybe two wickets at this stage. Not to mention his bowling is useless now as well. He gets the odd one to turn sharply and decieve the batsmen, but part time spinners have been outbowling Kumble on the same pitch for months now.

[bharat297]

^ Sadly ... I must agree with the above post.

[Kumar]

anil kumble has played terribly recently and must consider that BCCI and fans have nearly had enough of him. But saying that I am confident anil kumble will step up and take wickets in this series. Hes in bad form we admit, and hes old, but he still got some flare. Besides he would want to end on a high. Ganguly has scored a century already and done well so far, while anil has done not so well. I am very anxious to see Dhoni made permanent captain, but we will have to wait. For the time being I hope he improves himself. But honestly I dont want to see him retire soon, even though hes in bad form. The wall is in bad from but HARDLY any one is complaining. Besides last century against RSA where tbh was a batting paradise. He will improve but give him time.

[Nova]

I wrote a short poem on Kumble... Kumble is boring His captain ship is boring His bowling is boring His fielding is boring Kumble is boring

[vinayak1986]

The same thing was said by Ian chappel when dhoni did the the substitute work in mohali.. no body listened to him at that time. infact i even saw a thread in ICF saying it was a 'divide and rule' policy. Barring that perth test i don't remember kumble leading the team well!

[Shane]

I wrote a short poem on Kumble... Kumble is boring His captain ship is boring His bowling is boring His fielding is boring Kumble is boring

Now i wonder where's the poem you promised :hmmm:

[bear23]

As someone pointed out, no matter what happens in this test going ahead, its time for Kumble to retire.

[putrevus]

The main difference between kumble now and kumble of old is his lack of that zip and skidding off the wicket he used to get to trap people LBW.He is bowling too much from round the wicket and aiming for the rough , which was never his forte,

[Rajan]

kumble has not done well after the first 3 tests against Australia early this year. it has been a struggle to pick wickets after that. SL tour was also bad. now, at home, in his favourite Delhi pitch, he looks a pale shadow. if he fails to contribute big time in this test, he must retire or at least take a break. his poor bowling form is also affecting his captaincy and confidence. we looked a much better attacking bowling team when Dhoni was in charge.

[Guest HariSampath]

Give him a break chaps. He has not even been on the pitch for most of the day cos of injury and he is getting slaughtered

Look, its just more than statistical details in Anil's case now. Apart from the fact he has gone for more than 80 odd overs without a test wicket, which is terrible by any standards, and deplorable for someone of Kumble's ability and standing, the more worrying fact is he doesnt look like taking a wicket. He bowled 17 overs in this inngs and didnt trouble any batter at all.....they seemed quite comfortable against him. When you consider the fact that we play with 4 specialist bowlers, and Kumble bowls around 25-30% of the overs in course of a normal test inngs...thats 30 % of the inngs being unproductive for us...so with remaining 70% and 3 bowlers we have to take 20 wkts which means we have to rely on some exceptional 5fers from more than 1 bower in both inngs. It wont happen that often and so we wont be able to force wins, more often than not drawing games we should be winning. I respect Anil enormously..I know Anil and do wish he gets a 5fer or at least a 3 wkts, but I think he is very close to the end, and his lack of performance is very badly affecting his confidence, captaincy and India's prospects for winning.