Health of Indian cricket heading into the future looks good, feels Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble feels that the Indian cricket team is in prime shape heading into the next year with all aspects covered, but believes there is still scope for improvement. Further, Kumble also opined that team India could have handled the No.4 fiasco at the World Cup in a more mature manner.
Barring the disastrous 30 minutes in the semi-final of the World Cup - where India lost their top three batsmen, including skipper Virat Kohli, for just five runs - the Men in Blue enjoyed a fine 2019, with them tasting tremendous success across all three formats. One of the telling aspects of their success this year, however, was how the youngsters and fringe players stepped up their game, in different phases of the season, in the absence of the senior players who were either rested or injured.
Former India skipper Anil Kumble reflected on team India's 2019 campaign and expressed his satisfaction over the team's performance, citing fast bowling, batting and bench strength as the main areas of strength for the team. Kumble feels that the 'health' of Indian cricket is good, but believes there is scope for improvement heading into the future.
"The Indian performances throughout the year were extremely consistent. Yes, of course there was a disappointment of the World Cup but of you look at the overall players, the bench strength, the fast bowling, the batting strength and some of the key guys never got a game, with the talent that's available for India. So, overall extremely satisfied with the kind of players that India has in all the three formats. Yes, there's always scope for improvement but overall, the health of Indian cricket certainly looks good," Kumble told News18.
One of the stories of the season has been the rise of fast bowling in Indian cricket over the course of the last 18 months, with the quartet of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav vandalizing opposition batsmen irrespective of the conditions. Kumble lavished praise on the pacers and, specifically, singled out the quality in depth, which saw the likes of Umesh effortlessly fill in the shoes of someone like a Bumrah in the absence of the latter.
"I think good team performs irrespective of the conditions and in Test match cricket you want bowling attack that can consistently pick 20 wickets, and this Indian team has proven that. That's why they're number 1 in the Test format. Fast bowlers, whether it's Ishant Sharma or Mohammed Shami. I think Shami has been fantastic over the last 1.5-2 years with his fitness going up a notch, and his consistent performances as well. Jasprit Bumrah has been brilliant, you have Umesh Yadav who's done really well," said the 49-year-old.
"Bhuvi, although with limited opportunities with his injuries, you always have him. I think overall, Indian cricket especially the faster bowlers have bowled exceptionally well. Like I mentioned, if someone gets injured like when Bumrah missed a few games with injury, you had Umesh come in and he picked up wickets straight away. So, that kind of support system and combinations are things that any captain or team management would love to have," he added.
Kumble, however, was unhappy with the team's handling of the whole No.4 situation heading into the World Cup, which saw them go into the global extravaganza without a fixed No.4, a confusion which eventually came back to bite them in the latter stages of the tournament. Kumble was critical of the team management for the way the No.4 saga was handled and stated that the planning could have been better heading into the tournament.
"I think so, we kept talking about the number 4 position leading up to the World Cup. There were lots of changes going up to the World Cup. Even in the World Cup itself, we weren't sure. Yes, there were a couple of occasions where Vijay Shankar got promoted to number 4, but was he the ideal candidate? Then he got injured and KL Rahul batted at number 4. Then unfortunately, Dhawan got injured and then KL got pushed to the opening slot, and again number 4 became a point of discussion.
"Yes, leading up to the World Cup, I feel that any World Cup that you're preparing for, you need to have a set team at least 10-15 matches prior.You can always say it was half an hour, 45 minutes of bad cricket that lost us the World Cup but having said that, the planning leading up to the World Cup maybe could've been slightly better."
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