Anil Kumble makes bowlers bat for long sessions

Team India Coach Anil Kumble has stated in his first press conference that he felt India has the capability to be the No.1 ranked team across all formats. Surely, the current India team has all the capabilities to do so. But, what are Kumble’s plans to achieve this goal?

Seems, he has decided to go with the tried and tested method of honing the skills of the players. He gave the glimpses of his scheme things during one of his recent sessions with the team India players at the NCA, Bangalore.

Kumble, who himself was a handy lower order batsman who has aa century oversea, made the tail-ender bat in the nets for long hours, trying to brush up their batting skills. A useful lower order is always a big advantage to the side. One can take the example of the developed and fully revamped English ODI side which has batting running as deep as to No.10 in the lineup.

At exactly 10 am, the usual start time to a Test match day, the first two players to walk out with their batting gear on were not the opening batsmen but two pacers, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma, joined some time later by Mohammed Shami.

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A big believer in the tail contributing those extra 40-50 runs, Kumble had explained back in 2008 that it was only fair that the bowlers got enough practice with the bat in the nets if they were expected to score in the matches. True to that line of thought, for nearly 30 minutes, both Ishant and Yadav faced up to Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy bowlers,

Wicket keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha agreed with the tactics. “I feel good batting with the lower order because in that situation whatever 30-40-50 crucial runs that comes, it is very helpful for the team. Even if every bowler contributes 15-20, the team can make a big score,” said Saha at a media interaction.