Anil Kumble imposes faith in spinners of Mumbai Indians

Anil Kumble

The mentor of Mumbai Indians Anil Kumble has appreciated the role of the team’s key spin duo of Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha. He is hopeful that despite a disappointing start to the Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) 2014, they will bounce back.

In their defeat by 41 runs against Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday both Harbhajan and Ojha weren’t able to get a wicket.

But veteran Anil Kumble who holds the record for being the third highest wicket-taker in Test history with 619, strongly believes that they will excel in their match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday. He said: “The two spinners are the best spinners in India and they showed what they are capable of last season, when they picked up 40 wickets between them, and it’s just the start of the tournament.”

Imposing faith in their abilities, he added: “I’m sure things can only get better. We’ve spoken about it. I’m sure they’re experienced enough, they have more than 500 Test wickets [between them], I don’t think they should worry too much.”

Regarding the team’s defeat in the first match, he said “We’ve had a slow start, but everybody knows this is a long tournament and I’m sure we’ll get into our stride very quickly. I think all three areas [batting, bowling and fielding] we need to improve on and that’s something we have spoken about over the last couple of days.We are a good side and we realise that. We stick to what we can control and what we can achieve on the field. That’s what the focus is and we’re pretty confident we will be able to put on a good show tomorrow [Saturday] and hopefully get the right result.”