"There are limitations in my bowling. I am candid about it. With experience I have learned to bowl well within my limitations. It's bit difficult to live up to the highest of expectations all the time," says Anil Kumble in an exclusive interview with Javagal Srinath.
Excerpts:
Congratulations for your great show in this series. How do you look at your future at the moment?
When I landed in Australia, I knew I might get limited opportunities. After all, the odds were against me. Some people questioned my selection in the team and my ability. I was realistic and simple in my thoughts and waited for the chance to come by. Bhajji [Harbhajan Singh] was the automatic choice for the first Test and Murali Kartik would have played the second Test had he arrived in time. My five-wicket haul in the second Test gave me all the confidence I wanted. It's good to be respected in the side but the fair bit of respect coming from the opponents was very crucial in my success here.
This performance couldn't have come at a better time, especially in Test cricket. Although my priority is not only to play and win games for the country as long as possible but also to get closer to Kapil Dev's record, which is a motivating factor. Having played with and admired Kapil, it will be truly exciting and equally challenging to get anywhere near his feat.
It was heartening to see you make a brutally honest statement about your own records abroad. Do you think that had a moral effect on your bowling?
Although I share the credit and discredit when we win and lose a match, there is belief in the hearts of the people that I am trying to win the match for my country. I take it as a great positive. There are limitations in my bowling. I am candid about it. With experience I have learned to bowl well within my limitations. It's bit difficult to live up to the highest of expectations all the time. When we put big runs on the board, it gives enough opportunity to bowlers to derive the advantage. That's what happened in this series. Every time our batsmen batted, they scored more than 400 runs and we, the bowlers, thrived on it.
The biggest disappointment, or I would call it a bane for the Indian cricket, is that sometimes our predecessors criticise our cricketers too much. It creates havoc in the mind of our youngsters. What do you think of it?
It is definitely disappointing to hear the destructive criticism that our younger lot goes through. No cricketer can become a great player in a couple of series. It takes a few years for any cricketer to be labelled as good or great. You are always better than the last game when you learn from your mistakes. When the team is good, the youngsters will have to match the talent and perform at par with the standards set by the seniors. It is never easy for a rookie straight away.
We have tremendous talent that need proper fostering. Unfair criticism coming from some of our own past cricketers can play havoc on the young minds. Self-doubting could be the biggest block in development of anybody's career. While the so-called experts express their own opinion, the youngsters should learn to take the criticism and the adulation in the same stride.
Your father's death during the Indian series, followed by you being left out of the playing eleven and of course the family life you constantly miss out... all these things must have had a bearing on your mind.
Things have changed since my injury and my own role in the side has also gone through a change. During those 12 months, I pondered over my cricket, my alternative career and my family.
My dad would have been really pleased with the way the things have gone for my team and me now. My father always encouraged me to do well. That's what life is all about. Personally, the World Cup was disappointing but the team did a wonderful job. I was too keen to do well and play a big role in there, as I knew I wouldn't figure in the next World Cup team. I did contemplate seriously about my cricket life after the World Cup. During those hard times, my wife Chetana, who is in the family way at the moment, stood like a rock beside me. She and my family are the pillars of my life. During my long absences because of my national team commitment, my family always bears the burden of handling the day-to-day activity, which is tough on them too.
It's wonderful to see the younger spinners like Harbhajan, [Sunil] Joshi, Kartik or even for a while [Venkatapathy] Raju look up to you to discuss, learn and share their concern. But In don't think you had anyone like that helping you all through your career?
In my case things were different, as my bowling style is unique. May be if B S Chandrashekar hadn't met with that unfortunate accident, I would have shared his knowledge. After all, there are some similarities in our bowling style.
In a way I am disappointed because not too many people came forward to tell me what was going wrong when I struggled at times. Some of them were ever ready to find my faults, but none really came forward with a solution. I did try meeting V V Kumar to see if I could change my style to orthodox leg spin bowling, but somehow it didn't work out for me.
Finally I decided to stick to my own style and add a few more variations into my framework of bowling. My only help were my teammates and the videos.
Spinners will always play a big role in Indian cricket. Unfortunately, the young spinners always get compared with either [E A S] Prasanna or [Bishen Singh] Bedi, and people then expect too much. The notion that the spinners cannot play significant role in one-dayers is not right. A good and intelligent spinner is welcome in any form of the game.
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