A veteran all-rounder Kapil Dev has applauded and greeted the BCCI’s decision to appoint Anil Kumble as the head coach of Indian cricket team. Kumble was recently appointed as the head coach of Indian cricket team for a period of one year.
In an interview with The Telegraph India, the former world cup winning captain mentioned the three big qualities that Kumble possesses viz confidence, fighting spirit and courage, adding to it he said that it will be crucial for Kumble and for the Indian team.
“The Board has acted wisely in appointing somebody who played till as recently as eight years ago. The head coach should, in my opinion, be somebody who retired four, six or eight years ago. Not former players like me who retired in the 1990s. Cricket has changed in the past decade and the appointment of somebody contemporary, like Anil, has to be welcomed,”
Praising BCCI’s decision to appoint a player who has retired from cricket in 2008 he said “The thinking of somebody who played in the 1980s or in the 1990s will be quite different to somebody who played till 2008, like Anil. There’s a new format, there’s so much help from technology,”
Along with applauding BCCI he also showered praises on Kumble for his bona fides and also shared his experience when he first saw Kumble “Ordinary, in some ways (Kapil’s first impression about Kumble). However, with time, Anil learnt and improved by leaps and bounds. He wanted to get better. Kept improving to finish with 619 Test wickets,” he added.
Kapil also counted out the challenges that Kumble would face as the coach of the Indian team. Along with that he did not forget to mention the Antigua test where Kumble came to bowl with a broken jaw “Anil had many defining moments, like the 10-wicket haul in a single Test innings (Kotla, in 1999)… Maybe, it would be difficult to count them… As for that Antigua Test, Anil showed he valued playing for India and just wouldn’t give up, no matter what the circumstances,” he said.
In the end, Kapil Dev concluded by saying “Anil is smart enough to know what to do… He has a mind of his own… Anil made us proud of his achievements on the field. Hopefully, he’ll make us proud as India’s head coach too,”
Kapil Dev has himself been coach of Indian cricket team for a period of one year from august 1999 to September 2000. His coaching stint was marred with controversies and also team India could not produce something better. In 8 test matches played under him, team India could register only 1 win and lost 5 of them. The winning percentage was just 12.5%. In 25 ODI’s under him, team India could register a win in just 9 matches and lost 16 of them. Here the winning percentage was 44 %. From the numbers, it is quite evident that his stint as a coach was unsuccessful but yes the number of controversies that erupted during that time was the main reason behind the failure of the Indian team.
Now after a period of 17 years the board has appointed an Indian as the head coach of Indian team so it is expected that Kumble will do his best to achieve the future endeavours.