Kumble gives lot of cushion to players: Shikhar Dhawan

In an open media session on Saturday, Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan thanked Ravi Shastri for the contributions he made as the team director and praised Anil Kumble for the way he has gone about his job.

“He (Kumble) knows in and out what’s happening in a player’s mind and I feel that’s going to play a huge role. I can already feel he gives a lot of cushion to players,” said the dashing left-hander.

The 30-year-old said that the new Indian head coach has a plan for each and every player in the squad, which includes the one’s who will not be playing regularly in the game too. Dhawan said, “With Anil bhai, it is not only Virat or any other big player but every player is in his scheme of plans. Even the ones who will not be playing regularly on the side. I feel that is a very important thing.”

When asked about the comparison between the both, he answered in a diplomatic manner. “Working with Ravi Shastri as team director was a good experience. We had a great time with Ravi bhai. Ravi bhai and Anil bhai, both are good.”

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He also said that he feel honored to have him as the coach. “We are enjoying Anil Bhai’s company. We are very honored that he is our coach and he is one of the legends of Indian cricket. Of course, in coming days, we are going to learn a lot from him.”

Speaking about the upcoming West Indies, tour, he said that the hosts are still in transition in the longest format of the game and this is something India will look to take an advantage of.

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“We feel we can pull off yet another series win against West Indies because the hosts are in the transition period and still trying to find their base. This, we are going to take advantage of and try to get on top of them,” he concluded.