Kumble upbeat ahead of Australia tour

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All these write ups are all fine and dandy. I still dont see how we are going to get 20 wickets. Atleast lets hope our batsmen can hold the fort if our bowlers cannot take 20 wickets.

[manoj_admlab]

Thinker, warrior, leader Peter Roebuck December 27, 2007 http://www.smh.com.au/news/cricket/thinker-warrior-leader-bangalores-finest-is-the-renaissance-man/2007/12/26/1198345080461.html ANIL KUMBLE is an undiluted champion. Seldom have India needed his exceptional abilities more and seldom has he responded more impressively. Refusing to think a defeatist thought, he rallied a beleaguered side so effectively that by stumps they were back in the match. Although he did not actually blow a bugle, the tall spinner did the next best thing by grabbing the ball and working his way through a batting order determined to dominate. Most teams fall apart in the face of the antipodean onslaught. Thanks to their captain and finest bowler, India stood firm. At first, the match followed an alarmingly predictable course. India lost the toss, beat the bat a dozen times without reward and then stumbled and seemed about to fall. Kumble's second-string bowlers were treated with disdain as Matthew Hayden marched down the pitch, and his partner cracked cuts as another man does walnuts. India's fielding had a decidedly 1930s look about it. Another hour of mayhem and the cause was lost. Although not exactly a rabble, the Indians resembled an ageing mob playing on borrowed time. The worst fears of supporters had been confirmed. Australia were going to score a motza, and India's batsmen were destined for a long struggle to avoid defeat. Not a bad time for a captain to pull something from his hat. A leader's most important task is to hold his side together in adversity. Kumble had underused himself in the morning. Noticing the ball seaming around on a grudging surface, he had allocated long stints to his lefties, Zaheer Khan and RP Singh. Next he tried Sourav Ganguly's gentilities and Harbhajan Singh's tentative off-breaks. Neither had been accorded undue respect. At last, Kumble took the ball himself. He is a great bowler and a sturdy competitor incapable of throwing in the towel. The Bangalorian has improved with age, adding changes of pace and flight to his spin variations. At once the batsmen were forced to work harder for their runs. It helps that he bowls straight thereby denying batsmen the luxury of scoring square of the wicket. But it was not merely a matter of stemming the flow. India needed a wicket. Kumble obliged. Having pinned down Phil Jaques, he offered a slower googly that lured the batsman from his crease and left him groping at thin air. Behind the sticks Mahendra Dhoni had read the play and the bails were whipped away like the skin from boiled milk. As far as the Australians were concerned, it was hardly a calamity. Yet the mood of the match changed. A wicket had not merely fallen. It had been taken. Kumble's charges responded to his example. Hitherto Zaheer had been toiling in vain. Now he went around the wicket, ripped his fingers across the ball and produced a delivery that straightened sufficiently to breach the defences of an accomplished opponent. Suddenly, a routine massacre had become a compelling contest. Before long a third wicket had fallen as Michael Hussey played across another floated googly to give Kumble a second strike. For a time, Australia rallied but hope once aroused is not easily subdued. It was time for RP Singh to put up his hand. Moving around the wicket, he produced a ball that snaked away from the bat, a temptation that Michael Clarke met with a wristy drive the sent the ball speeding into the hands of a stooping second slip. Now honours were even, and the crowd was agog. Next came another potent partnership between Hayden and Andrew Symonds, the combination that had batted to brilliantly a year ago. Once more, the Australian fightback was checked as the left-hander mistimed a drive and was held at mid-on, a common means of dismissal on surfaces of this sort. Nor was Kumble ready to relent. He can squeeze an opponent as mothers can lemons. Afte trying more cuts than Mr Iemma, and determined to reclaim the initiative, Symonds pulled a ball only slightly short of a length and was smartly held at mid-wicket. Kumble celebrated and went back to work. Australian hopes rested with Adam Gilchrist but he misread a wrong'un and fell foul of a stroke best described as optimistic. Kumble continued to spring to the crease in the manner of a kangaroo crossing a desert. He struck again as Brett Lee prodded forwards and deserved another wicket as Brad Hogg nibbled to short leg only to be spared by an unconvinced white coat. But Kumble does not complain. Always he goes back to his mark and tries again. Evidently he has instilled the same single-mindedness in his charges. India did not wilt because their captain did not break. It was an excellent day's cricke

[manoj_admlab]

Kumble has outstanding intuition: Waugh http://www.cricketnext.com/news/kumble-has-outstanding-intuition-waugh/28546-13.html Hailing Anil Kumble as a bowler with "outstanding intuition," former Australian captain Steve Waugh said one should never underestimate the veteran leg-spinner. Impressed with Kumble's performance on the opening day of the first cricket Test here, Waugh said Kumble was a clever bowler capable of reading the minds of batsmen well. "Having played against him many times, I knew never to underestimate Anil Kumble - even though you wogSep stressing over how to combat his bowling out in the middle," Waugh wrote in his column for daily Herald Sun. "His methods are subtle and often most effective when you think you have him under control. He possesses outstanding intuition, which enables him to sense complacency or uneasiness from a batsman, and in turn he cleverly mixes up his deliveries and angles at the crease," Waugh said. Analysing his old adversary's performance, the Aussie great said the spinner exhibited great artistry while scalping Phil Jaques and Mike Hussey today. "He tempted Jaques with a flighted delivery that was a well-concealed wrong 'un, while Mike Hussey departed to a quicker, flatter wrong 'un that beat him for pace. "Both were clever pieces of artistry from a street-fighter, who for many years has been the benchmark in mental toughness in Indian cricket." Waugh felt that this series would be demanding on Kumble as he would play a double role of captain and strike bowler against tough opponents like Australia. "Being the captain this tour will provide him greatest challenge, as his focus will have to be shared and not channelled," he said. "It was in the first session that he appeared unsettled when he continually rotated his fieldsmen where the ball has just gone, but as the day evolved he became progressively pro-active and comfortable with the leadership," Waugh said. Waugh said playing the Test series against Pakistan would help India during the tour of Australia, who had a cakewalk in the home series versus Sri Lanka. "One advantage India has over Australia is it has just come off a demanding three-Test series against its arch-rival Pakistan, while Australia steamrolled a lacklustre Sri Lanka. "This was evident when Australia was perfectly placed at 0-135 and on remote control again to dominate, but the Indians hung tough, stuck to the basics and turned things around. "This appears to be an Indian team that is ready for the challenge and willing to ask questions of Australia's batsmen through swing bowling and spinners with attitude," he said. Expressing astonishment over the slow track of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Waugh said the Aussies might be losing the home advantage because of the wicket. "Deliveries not carrying through to the wicketkeeper, batsmen checking their shots and edges falling short of the slip cordon on the first day. "Even with a limited preparation because of rain and the fact it will bake, harden and quicken with the sunshine during the next two days, it is becoming a common theme that our pitches are losing their character. Consequently, home-ground advantage is a thing of the past as the playing surfaces become all too familiar. "On this particular pitch, Australia will be hard-pressed to bowl India out twice with the limited sideways movement and lack of exaggerated bounce," he said.