Anil Kumble reacts to his 'headmaster' tag

Known for his strict discipline, former Indian head coach Anil Kumble was not a favourite of the players. Because of his hectic training regime and authoritarian attitude, the former Indian legendary skipper got himself the tag of ‘headmaster’. In a chat with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Microsoft, he referred to his tag.

Kumble was released from his responsibilities as the head coach of the Indian cricket team on June due to some conflicts with the skipper Virat Kohli and other players. As per reports, the players were not too fond of Kumble’s modus operandi. They were not ready to follow the 47-year-old’s tiring schedule and hence the board had to look for alternatives, as the saga eventually ended with Ravi Shastri sitting in the head coach’s chair.

This incident saw many Indian cricket enthusiasts go against the players. When Nadella asked Kumble about the values and ethics he has inherited from his family, the strict man showed his funny side by saying, “The self belief. It comes from the values that you inculcate, looking up to your parents and grand parents. My grandfather was a headmaster in school and I know that term (headmaster) kept coming back to me later in my career. Some of them here will understand (what I am talking about).”

He then moved on to how he had to compete with the then hot prospect Harbhajan Singh for a place in the team. “As a cricketer, you have to ‘hit refresh’ (name of the book written by Nadella) literally at the end of the every series. Challenges from one series to another are different. But I would like to mention the Australia tour in 2003-04 when I was at the crossroads of my career. I was competing for a place in the eleven (with Harbhajan Singh). People had started talking about my retirement as I was in my 30s. I got an opportunity in the Adelaide Test which we famously won,” Kumble said, as quoted by The Indian Express.

“I was expensive on day one but came back to take a five-wicket haul. I understood the need of doing something different. So I started bowling a different type of googly, something I had learnt during my tennis ball days. That is when I realised I can make subtle changes to improve my game,” the owner of 619 Test wickets further added.

Best part of playing in 90s

Though the current Indian team, under the exceptional leadership of Virat Kohli is playing cricket of the highest order, many fans would still say that the team of 90s was the best to have ever donned the blue jersey. Kumble also remembered his good old days of the past and said that the best part of playing in that era was the Men in Blue won almost everything at home.

“The best part of playing in the 90s was that we almost won everything at home. But if you have to pick one hit refresh moment, it was the Australia-India series in 2001. I did not take part in that due to injury. That was the time when the team realised its true potential. Since then Indian cricket has gone from strength to strength and we are number one at the moment,” the man from Bangalore concluded.