Anil Kumble brings back Wright's legacy-relaunches ‘Buddy’ programme

John Wright had coached the Indian cricket team during the early 2000s during Sourav Ganguly's time at the helm. The laid-back Kiwi had been part of India's 2003 WC campaign, where the team reached the final, and also was the coach during India's historic Test revival including the 2-1 series win that featured the famous Eden Gardens comeback. Having played under him during that time, Kumble had praised the coach earlier during the interview process for India coach and had promised to involve the former New Zealand cricketer during his tenure.

One week into his role, Kumble has already brought back the 'buddy' program originally introduced by John Wright.

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Speaking about it, Stuart Binny said, "It's about the senior guys communicating with the junior guys.

"Today we've paired up - each guy's paired with another guy; it's called a 'buddy program'. So it's me and Rohit paired up together. Rohit has played a lot of one-day cricket and Test cricket, and for me to share thoughts with him, that's the way forward, I think. If I can help Rohit by 2%, then maybe he can help me with 30% - that's what we're looking to do today. It's about helping each other through situations,” in an exclusive with Espncricinfo.

Binny said the prime objective of the program was to push the players to communicate with each other without holding back.

It's about me and Rohit communicating about our net sessions, about areas that I bowl [for example]. In the past, many guys held back because you didn't want to say something to upset another guy, but we've been pushed in a direction to communicate what we want, especially with our games. There's a lot you can learn from someone else, even by telling him that, I think this is the way forward. Communication is the key, I think. That's what we're trying to breed.

Stuart Binny

Speaking about the preparatory camp in Bengaluru, leggie Amit Mishra said, "We've divided in such a way that batsmen will help bowlers and bowlers will help batsmen, so that whenever we need to play six or seven batsmen, the batsmen can chip in with the ball, bowl seven-eight overs for us.

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"My buddy is Pujara - he bowls a bit of legspin; he can help me with my batting, and I can help with his legspin, so that whenever we might need it, he can bowl seven-eight overs for the team and help us." reported Espncricinfo.