Ace leg-spinner Anil Kumble has admitted that his performance is one of the reasons for India's poor showings on foreign soil.
"It is a fair criticism, it's not the same (on foreign soil). I would have loved it (my record) to be the same (as at home)," he said.
Kumble has picked 358 wickets from 78 Tests but his record abroad (123 wickets at 39.90 in 37 Tests) is vastly different to what he has been able to achieve at home (235 from 41 Tests at 22.10).
India have not won a Test series outside the subcontinent in 17 years, which is directly in contrast to their performance at home where they have lost just once in as many number of years.
Kumble, who will have to play a significant role if India wants to record any win in the forthcoming four-match Test series against Australia, was a huge disappointment during the team's last trip Down Under.
Though he picked up only five wickets at 90.00 runs apiece on that tour, he revealed it was because he was asked to fulfill a different role, that of a seamer, by the team. "My role was different on the last tour. I think it would have been a different tour for me in terms of the number of wickets I got, if a couple of chances, which were there, had gone my way," he said.
"Last time around, the emphasis was on seam bowling. My role was more of a defensive one. It was more for the fast bowlers to come back fresh. I probably bowled 20-25 overs on the first day of a Test match," said Kumble.
The leg-spinner, however, said even though India had not won a Test series abroad in a long, long time things lately were turning for the better for the team.
"In the last two years, we have won in England and West Indies and things are changing. The boys have the potential, all they need is confidence to perform abroad.
"When you look at India as a team, their record at home probably compares to Australia's as best in the terms of win record. But our performance outside gets highlighted only because the difference between our performances at home and abroad is too much.
"But look at it this way. Except for Australia, every other international side struggles to perform abroad and India is no different."
Kumble wasn't sure a personal coach -- like Shane Warne had Terry Jenner -- would have helped him perform better abroad.
"It's not just having a personal coach, you sure learn a lot by speaking to somebody senior, getting tips and a lot of people have done that to me. I've worked to add to my repertoire. But I never started with formal coaching and I do not consider myself an orthodox leg-spinner. It's hard for me to go back to someone who is an orthodox leg spinner," Kumble said.
The bowler agreed his performance arouses expectations among cricket fans and people expect him to deliver all the time.
"There is pressure to perform in international cricket. If you set expectations, people expect you to deliver. I've been pretty consistent over 13 years but you are expected to perform at all times.
"I would like to think I've a lot of cricket left in me and would like to perform in whatever way I could," said the 33-year-old.
Kumble said he looked forward to performing on the present tour and hoped the wickets would yield better spin than they did last time around in 1999-2000.
"I remember the last time they were very true wickets. We had believed it would spin a lot more as the game progressed but it didn't happen. It didn't happen even in Sydney, which is supposed to be a spinners' paradise. Hopefully, it wouldn't happen this time," he said.
Kumble said West Indies' Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar were amongst the top batsmen he had bowled to during his career, though Australian opener Matthew Hayden, who has the record for the top individual score in international cricket, is rated number one in the world at present.
"I am just happy I have to bowl to one of them only in the nets and not in the match," he said. "Hayden has performed exceptionally well in the last two years. He no doubt has been the number one batsman in the last couple of years. But it is difficult to compare batsmen. Each player has his own style and way of getting runs. Hayden's 380 was an amazing innings. Tendulkar on the other hand is close to 10,000 Test runs and is a great player."
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