An optimist to the core

BHAGYA PRAKASH

Anil Kumble is quite happy with the progress made by the Indian team in the last few years. “Now we are at a stage where we have done well against Australia, the number one team, in the last four series. We have won two and the other two were close. We are heading in the right way,” says the former India captain in an interview with K.C. Vijaya Kumar.

Anil Kumble was all grace and calm as he sat down for an interview with Sportstar at his residence ‘Kreedaa’ at Banashankari in Bangalore. The former India skipper had the assurance of a man so proud to have contributed immensely to Indian cricket. He seemed to be a contented man following his decision to retire from Test cricket.

Excerpts from the interview:

Question: Has the feeling of retirement sunk in?

Answer: It has. The first time I probably felt it was when I walked into the Board President’s box in Nagpur. When I watched Sachin and Laxman bat, I guess that’s when it sunk in.

When you entered the dressing room in 1990 you had players such as Kapil Dev and Dilip Vengsarkar. And now when you leave, there are new stars like M. S. Dhoni, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan. Do you think Indian cricket is in a better state now?

In 1990 you had the greats who were in the last days of their careers, and Indian cricket possibly didn’t have consistently good results. We started to do exceptionally well in the 1990s and were unbeatable at home till 2000. Later, when John Wright and Sourav Ganguly took over the team, we started believing that we could win abroad. We didn’t win series overseas on a consistent basis, but at least in every series we toured, we did win matches. Now we are at a stage where we have done well against Australia, the number one team, in the last four series. We have won two and the other two were close. We are heading in the right way. I have done my bit. It is time to move on and the Indian team is in good hands.

Do you think the Indian team can cope with this period of transition?

The team will cope. Zaheer Khan has been brilliant, and Ishant Sharma has also shaped up well. The spinners have chipped in as well. In that sense, we are in the right direction. I don’t think there is over-dependence on spin to win matches. Harbhajan Singh with 300-plus wickets will lead the Indian spin attack and whatever little I have seen of Amit Mishra, he looks good. Even the other young spinners who are competing for a spot look good.

You have always fought stereotypes, of being constantly compared with the spin quartet. The latest is you have been called a “dusty deck destroyer” in the Australian media. You have bowled with a broken jaw. You bowled with an injured left hand in the Delhi Test. Where does all this resilience come from?

It is inborn. Probably, I imbibed it from my parents. I was looking at my record now, I have got close to 270 wickets abroad and even at 35 runs per wicket it’s not a bad effort. To do that as a spinner, especially when you know that you will never get a wicket abroad that will help you, is creditable. Even in Sydney, you won’t get a turning wicket. I am satisfied. People have said various things because I am always compared with orthodox spinners. And because I am not orthodox, people tend to disagree that this (unorthodox bowling style) can get you results!

You are always linked with the ‘perfect 10’, but are there other spells that you think are under-rated?

In Chennai against Australia in 2004, when I picked up seven wickets in the first innings on the first day of the match, it was something that I enjoyed. Also the five-wicket haul recently at the MCG, after Australia were 100 for no loss. My first five-wicket haul in Johannesburg, which gave me the belief that I can get wickets at the international level. Sometimes I have bowled a spell which I thought was probably my best and still did not get a wicket, but you always remember the spells that got you wickets.

You have scored a century in Tests. Do you feel that you could have done more?

In the early part of my career, I thought that I had a good first-class record and could keep continuing that at the international level. But maybe, I didn’t focus enough on my batting. In the last two years or so, I felt good about my batting. I tried to attack a bit more instead of just hanging around. Probably if I hadn’t got a Test hundred I would have been very sad. I could have scored a 1000 more runs in Tests, but overall I am satisfied.

You, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and V. V. S. Laxman were highly respected, but over the last year, people were talking of retirement when it came to the senior players. How do you reflect on that?

We are five players who have contributed to Indian cricket consistently and all of us have played more than 100 Tests, most of them together and we have a success percentage of about 40 or 45, which is good. It’s unfortunate that after one of them announces his retirement before the Test series and another goes at the end of the third Test, you tend to speculate on the other three! Age is not the criterion, but performance is. The decision to retire is up to the individuals. It is bad to say ‘one is gone, another is going and so the other three fellows should go’. For some strange reason, all this talk comes from people who have actually played the game. I don’t know whether people want to see the same faces on television. People have been sitting in those spaces for many years, nobody wants a change there. We should go through their records and find out what they were doing when they were coming to the close of their careers.

When you took over as captain, you told us that you would give a preamble to the Indian team. How did the players respond?

One of the things that was part of the preamble was ‘Keep fighting, never give up’. In the last one year, in situations like when we were 0-2 or 0-1 down we have fought back and won. To come back and win in Perth, where nobody gave us a chance, was special. Even in Sri Lanka we came back in the second Test and could have won the third if the catches were not dropped. I think coming back when we had our backs to the wall is something that has trickled down to the last player in the team and I am satisfied with the one year that I was captain of the Indian team.

The road ahead…?

In the first couple of months, I will take a break and then I will start thinking about what I can do. When I was in Nagpur, the BCCI, possibly, had given me some kind of hope that I can be associated with the game in some capacity. I will take a break now and then look at the challenges ahead. I have interests in business and in photography. And definitely I will contribute to the sport, whether I have my own academy or whether I get involved in another thing. But I want to have a proper plan before I start things. I want to be professional, have a plan and then tell people, ‘look, this is the plan I have, would you be interested?’ I would like to voice my opinion in the media, whether it is written or on television, but not on a ball-by-ball basis, like commentary because in that case it will be like playing and I will be away from my family.

Could you throw some light on your passion for photography?

I have always carried a camera right from my first tour to England. I graduated to using a better camera when I was in Malaysia. And once I got a digital camera, I got better lenses and I became more professional. My brother Dinesh (Kumble) is a good photographer and along with a few other friends, we keep going into the jungle for some good snaps. Once in South Africa I was able to capture a bolt of lightning striking the sea. Around 4.30 in the morning I heard the lightning outside my room. I took some shots and they came out well. Then I took a snap of Sachin after he scored his 35th century in Delhi. It was when he raised the bat with the scoreboard in the background. The papers didn’t have that angle. Maybe because I was shooting from the dressing room, I had that angle.

Any apprehensions about the pressures your children could face as they grow up?

My oldest daughter, Aaruni, has been doing wonderfully well and for my son Mayas, it is a bit too early. They will feel the pressure only if they play cricket. Two are girls (Aaruni and Svasti) and I don’t think they will have that kind of pressure and as for my son, I am not sure. Chethana and I won’t put any pressure on the kids. But as they grow up, maybe they will have to cope with either bias or prejudice as they are children of a cricketer, but we will take a call when they get to that stage.