Video: Anil Kumble bowls at the net as India prepare for practice game
Indian fans were thrilled to hear the announcement of Anil Kumble as head coach of the Indian cricket team. Excited for a number of reasons, some fans were excited to see how the former cricketer who was part of the Indian team for almost twenty years would impart his wisdom to the youngsters, some were wondering how Kumble might bring a new sense of discipline to the unit, and some were just genuinely thrilled to have a leg spinner at the helm.
Read: India’s probable playing XI for the first Test
As the BCCI invited fans to send questions in for the new coach on Twitter, one fan wondered if he might see Anil Kumble roll his arm over in the nets and test India’s batsmen. At that stage, Kumble responded saying that India has some of the best batsmen in the world and he would be no threat to them having not played for years. However, as India geared up for the second warm-up game against the BPXI starting today, Kumble was seen bowling competitively in the nets:
What is interesting is that Cheteshwar Pujara was also seen, analysing Kumble’s bowling and having a go himself. On the one ball he bowled, Kumble almost seemed excited by what he saw and commented, “Oh, almost”. Will we see Pujara act as a backup spinner for India in the upcoming Test series? It is certainly something to watch out for. While Pujara has only bowled one over in Test cricket, he has picked up 5 first-class wickets.
India take on West Indies in the first of four Tests at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium starting on the 21st of July and all eyes will be on the team to see how they perform after 7 months of no Test cricket action. One thing is for sure, the leg spinners will have a big part to play.