Bengaluru: As a head coach of Indian cricket team, Anil Kumble took charge today. Kumble urged his wards to retain their fighting spirit as they geared up for a packed season. Kumble’s first assignment as India coach would be a four-Test series in West Indies.
Kumble was known for his never-say-die attitude as a player and images of him bowling with a bandaged head on India’s tour of the Caribbean back in 2006, are still fresh in the memory of cricket lovers in the country. Now, the new coach wants his team to imbibe the same aggression.
The new head coach said “I was a player then. Now I am coach. I know the roles are different. Win or lose, I want to ensure that the fighting spirit remains. Since we are playing seven Tests in a row (vs West Indies and New Zealand), we are only focusing on Tests. We’ll focus on ODIs and T20Is later. We play 17 Tests next year. We want to make sure we put in a brand of cricket that makes people want to watch us. I want to be the kind of coach who will call a player who was dropped and tell him if he’s still part of the system. It’s not always about the 11 that play. It’s also about the 6-7 who don’t. That’s what I sought in a coach when I played.”