Anil Kumble expresses regret over 'Monkeygate' incident
Former Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble expressed regret at the manner in which the ‘Monkeygate’ incident involving Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds panned out, Times of India reports. The 44-year-old also talked about the qualities of a good skipper and compared the captaincy style of MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli.
Kumble, who was captaining during India's tour of Australia in 2008, feels a proper talk with his compatriot Ricky Ponting could have resolved the issue without letting the incident snowballing into the controversy that it eventually became. The Indian team denied charges by Symonds that he had been racially abused by Harbhajan, but the match referee nevertheless suspended the Indian off-spinner for three matches.
India threatened to pull out from the series midway but was persuaded to continue, but Kumble admitted that the whole episode left a bad taste in the mouth for cricket lovers.
"We wanted to play and win the series. I was fortunate to have such a lot of players beside me like Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag who supported Harbhajan and me during the incident. But I think a lot could have been solved with just me and the Australia skipper," Kumble said.
India’s leading wicket-taker in Test cricket went on to state that captains should be allowed to have a say in the team selection but also acknowledged that he should be one who can mingle equally with both the senior and younger players in the squad.
"A captain should have a say in the selection of a team. He should voice his opinion on the selection on the team. Because a captain is the one who will be responsible for bringing out the best from the players on the field," Kumble said during the annual Dilip Sardesai Memorial Lecture here. “A captain should look to share knowledge and experience among his players and not look who is senior and junior. Captains nowadays have a lot of opportunities."
Kumble talks about India’s dual captaincy
Kumble doesn’t see any issue with the fact that India has separate captains for different formats with MS Dhoni leading the side in the T20 and ODI formats while Virat Kohli leads India in Test matches.
"India has two captains now and that is logical. I don't think two captains will be difficult. I don't think it will be difficult for the players to adjust with the two captains in different formats of the game. Players are now playing and switching from one format to the other and that will help them to shift from one captain to the other," Kumble said.
"Dhoni, as we know, is a calm and quiet captain and Kohli is a different captain. So players will not have difficulty to switch from one captain to another as players are now used to shifting formats and game," he added.
Kohli’s captaincy style has drawn praise and criticism in equal measures with many quipping that India have been crossing their limits with their aggressiveness. Recently Dhoni spoke about the need for India to channelise their aggression in a better way and it is a thought which is shared by Kumble himself.
"A captain needs to be attacking. Aggression is not the right word in this context. One has to have the intent to win games for your country and personality will come along. A captain should be prepared for the unexpected. Best captains should always be a step ahead of the game," he said.
Kumble defends Tendulkar’s captaincy record
Sachin Tendulkar might have been arguably the greatest batsmen of the modern generation, but his captaincy record was pretty modest and he stepped down from the captaincy as he felt the added responsibility was affecting his performances with the bat as well.
Kumble sympathised with his former teammate and felt that tough oppositions, as well as too much expectations, were the reasons for his poor captaincy record.
“It was a huge challenge for Sachin when he took over the captaincy. He was captain when West Indies, Australia, South Africa were in full flow with top players in their squads. It was really a tough job for a new captain to play against such tough sides. Expectations went too high on him and when he failed people targeted him," Kumble said.