When everyone’s talking about India’s
historic win over Australia in the
Second Test Match, how can the injured skipper Anil Kumble remain far behind? Kumble who sat out of the match because of fitness reasons is very pleased with the team’s performance and its outcome. He is very praiseful of stand-in skipper MS Dhoni’s ways and very appreciative of debutant spinner Amit Mishra’s display of talent. So far, so good. But where does Kumble find his place in a team that seems to be the perfect winning combination?
Anil Kumble is oblivious of such issues. He is sad about missing out on the Second Test Match which is India’s largest test victory in terms of runs. However, he is very confident of coming back in the third match which will be played in Delhi from October 29. Feroze Shah Kotla is a special ground for Anil Kumble. He has taken 55 wickets in 6 matches on this ground including the Historic Ten Wicket Haul in an innings he took against Pakistan.
Kumble is all praises for MS Dhoni, who captained the team in the second match for his leadership abilities. Amit Mishra, who completed his debut match with 7 wickets including a five-wicket haul, also got a pat on his back for his splendid performance. Kumble feels the rookie has been finished finely after eight grueling domestic seasons and has a lot in store for himself.
However, with Dhoni being just the Right Captain and Mishra filling the spinner’s role neatly, Kumble may have a real fight ahead to make his place. Kumble has had a lackluster season. He fizzed out on the tour to Sri Lanka, both in bowling and captaincy. In the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Cup, his performance in the first match was not as per Kumble standards. It was the third time in his marathon test career that he went without a wicket. In wake of such abysmal performance, injuries, mounting pressure on the four senior players (Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and himself) to retire after Ganguly’s retirement and the team performing so well in his absence, Kumble is in for some good scraping out.
Let us hope that talents like Amit Mishra don’t get eroded sitting out for the sake of some old boys. The Indian Team has a perfect mix of the experienced & the youth but if the experienced lot become burdensome on the Playing XI due to their continuous jittery performances and fitness issues, then it’s the perfect time to bid them farewell.
Cricket360 wishes Team India all the Luck for the Third Test against Aussies and God bless Amit Mishra with a bright future (Successful International Career) ahead.
Indian Squad for the Third & Fourth Test Match against Australia:
Anil Kumble (Captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Vangipurappu Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Subramaniam Badrinath, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Rudra Pratap Singh, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra.
