The Hindu : Sport : A moment to savour: Kumble

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 13, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport

A moment to savour: Kumble

K.C. Vijaya Kumar

Shoaib Malik terms the series a competitive one

— Photo: K.R. Deepak

DELIGHTED BUNCH: The Indian team after winning the Test series against Pakistan.

Bangalore: Anil Kumble hinted that a Test series victory over Pakistan in 27 years at home was a moment to savour and not quibble about the timing of the Indian second innings declaration.

“Winning 1-0 is fine. It was important to win the series. On this pitch, the only option to get wickets was when the ball kept low which means you needed ten balls to keep low and that could happen in 40 overs or in 150 overs. There might be people who would say that we should have declared earlier but that’s all ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ but if we had known the weather would be like this, I might have declared yesterday (on Tuesday) itself,” Kumble said in the post-match press conference.

The Indian skipper’s dry sense of humour also came to the fore when he was asked about mixing up his bowling with a touch of medium-pace during the Pakistan second innings. “I probably should have bowled medium pace in the first innings. There was no spin or bounce on the wickets and the only way to get people out was through balls that kept low and you had to bowl a bit quicker so that the batsmen didn’t have enough time to adjust” Kumble said.

Laxman is fine

Kumble also cleared the air about V.V.S. Laxman’s injured left elbow after he was struck by Shoaib Akhtar’s short-pitched delivery.

“It was a bruise. There is no crack and he should be fine,” Kumble said besides praising Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh for helping the team recover in the first innings. He also said that the Indian team is well equipped to tour Australia. And on Pakistan, he said that it was a good team as it had bounced back in the Kolkata Test and stayed afloat in the series.

The difference

Meanwhile Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik termed the series as competitive.

“We played badly in the morning session on the fourth day of the Delhi Test, and that cost us the series. Not once, but twice in a row, India scored more than 600 runs and we replied with 500 runs. It’s just that we had lots of problems with fitness. It was only 3-2 in the one-dayers and 1-0 in the Tests,” Malik said.

Supports Kumble

Malik supported Kumble’s declaration timing. “He did the right thing. There is an important tour of Australia coming up and they have had their fair share of injuries. Kumble did what he thought was best for his team,” Malik said.

He also praised Misbah-ul-Haq besides supporting Danish Kaneria, who had a below-par series.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport