Mohali, November 8
Anil Kumble today emerged as the winner in the race for captaincy winning the verdict for the three-Test series against Pakistan starting after the current one-day series.
The veteran leg-spinner got the nod ahead of one-day skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
The elevation of the 37-year-old Kumble was announced by M.P. Pandove, BCCI joint secretary, after the second one-day match here tonight which Pakistan won to level the series.
It looked like a two-man race for the hot seat after Kumble announced his willingness to jump into the fray only yesterday.
Before the announcement, the Jharkhand wicketkeeper-batsman was widely tipped to be given the mantle of leading the Test side as well after Sachin Tendulkar’s decision not to take the additional responsibility a couple of days earlier.
In fact, a piquant situation had
arisen when Sachin Tendulkar declined to lead the side. There were divergent views regarding the elevation of Dhoni as the Test captain.
Prominent among those who opposed Dhoni as Test captain were former India coach Greg Chappell and Ravi Shastri.
Both were of the view that it would become too much of a burden for Dhoni if he were asked to lead the Test side as well.
Shastri had announced at Mohali before the second one-dayer here that Dhoni should be first made to undergo the grind as ODI skipper for at least one more year before he was saddled with more responsibility.
A veteran of 118 Tests and 271 one-day matches had announced yesterday, “I will certainly do the job if asked to.”
With 566 scalps, Kumble is the highest Test wicket-taker in the country. He, along with Jim Laker shares the unique record of “Perfect 10” in a Test innings. He completed the feat against Pakistan in 1999 in the Delhi Test.
Gutsy Kumble displayed his true courage and character, when he bowled with a fractured jaw in the Antigua Test in 2002.
‘A great honour’
New Delhi: After being handed the Test captaincy for the Pakistan series, an elated Anil Kumble today said that it was a "high-pressure and challenging job" but exuded confidence to lead the team with success, a PTI report said.
"It is a great honour to captain the Indian cricket team. Every cricketer in India dreams of captaining the team. It is really great motivation for me personally and I am looking forward for the job," Kumble said.
"It is a high pressure job and it is a challenge. Pakistan is a tough side," said the veteran leg-spinner.
Kumble, who pipped one day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to the post, said he never spared thought about leading the side.
"I think I came very close to becoming the captain when I was the vice-captain and there was a change of guard at that point when Sachin (Tendulkar) gave up the captaincy.
