Mohali, November 7
Anil Kumble, the ace leggie, has thrown his hat in the ring for Test captaincy.
The 37-year-old leg-spinner, a veteran of 118 Test and 271 one-day matches, told Cricinfo that he was ready to take over as captain if the selectors asked him to do so. “I would certainly do the job if asked to. I don’t know what the big deal is, why so much is being made of this. I have said it before also.”
The mantle of leading the side was earlier expected to fall on Mahendra Singh Dhoni after India were outstanding in Twenty20 world championship and did well in one-day matches with Dhoni at the helm.
In fact, a messy situation was created earlier Rahul Dravid suddenly said after the England tour that he was no longer enjoying being in the hot seat and announced his decision to relinquish captaincy.
Consensus then seemed to be veering around Sachin Tendulkar as the man to lead the side. Despite his earlier two unsuccessful stints as captain when he stepped down to concentrate on batting, Tendulkar looked an automatic choice to
lead the Test side.
Despite Dhoni leading India to the historic Twenty20 victory in South Africa, where India suffered only reverse against New Zealand and defeated teams like South Africa, Australia and Pakistan (twice), reservations were expressed from certain quarters that Dhoni’s elevation to the most demanding job was a bit too early.
Former India coach Greg Chappell was first to say that Dhoni was doing a fantastic job during his apparentishship as an ODI skipper and it would be unwise to over burden the talented wicketkeeper-batsman with Test captaincy at this juncture.
Similar views were expressed by Ravi Shastri at Mohali yesterday. Shastri said Dhoni should be allowed time to mature as a captain in the ODIs before he was saddled with the added responsibility. Shastri felt that Dhoni should be made to go through the grid for a minimum one year.
Tendulkar’s elevation as Test skipper looked more of a fomality and a decision looked imminent during the Mohali ODI. But things abruptly went haywire at the eleventh hour with Tendulkatr telling a TV channell “I don’t feel right about it at the moment.”
Kumble’s offer has thrown up interserting options. At least, it has provided selectors with a viable alternative. As far Kumble, even his arch rivals don’t doubt either his cricket acumen and his achievements on the field. Nothing illustrates it better than the century a resolute Kumble scored in England in the last Test. Inmcidently, his maiden century came when all other regular batsmen failed to reach the coveted three-figure mark during the entire series.
It was here at the same venue that Kumble completed the magical 500 Test wicket mark when Pakistan last played in Mohali in March 2005. Who knows, the venue may prove lucky for Kumble again and he may be gifted Test captaincy tomorrow. If it happens, it would be the most fitting tributes to the champion bowler, who has worked tirelessly for the country for nearly a decade and a half and is ranked right up there along with the legends like Shane Warne or Muthiah
Muralitharan.
