People tend to not give credit to the Indian spinner when they perform in India: Anil Kumble

Indian Head Coach Anil Kumble addressed the pre-match press meet ahead of the one-off Test match against Bangladesh. While the Indian team is the No.1 ranked Test team and have been absolutely brilliant against all the opponents playing at home Bangladesh definitely possesses the fire to challenge them. They did well in the home series against England enough to beat them in a match and level the series and then put up a spirited fight on the tour of New Zealand.

Kumble doesn’t want to take Bangladesh lightly but at the same time acknowledged his team’s strength. When asked if the match will be about the opposition bowlers versus the Indian batsmen the coach said, “I think we would like to just look at it like a continuation of where we left off against England. It has been a good home season we would like to take confidence on that, build on it because we still have a few Test matches after this as well so it is important we take the momentum from where we left and look at Bangladesh who has done well against New Zealand in recent past and we would like to look at what we can do and continue to measure what we can achieve.”

It is crucial to have the momentum on your side in the longest format since confidence and a positive mindset to start the game with can prove to be the difference in the end. “I think what we have gone about within the group is to measure our own performances and measure our own expectations and not really look at the opposition and that has worked for us so far I don’t think we need to do anything different against Bangladesh and Australia as well irrespective of who the opposition is we want to measure ourselves with what we want to achieve and how we want to achieve those goals. As long as we are able to do that within our group I am sure we will get the results.” Kumble said.

The team played three or five-match series leading to this match and but the legend doesn’t think there is a lot of different is the approach for the players when they are playing a one-off game from a bigger series since they try to focus on the particular session and the particular match more than the larger picture at most times.

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“Every game whether it is a series of 3 or 5 Test matches like we recently played against England you have to take every session every Test match as one unit and not the series. It is different when you are playing a one-off Test match but even in a bigger series, we have to look at every Test match as individual unit. Test matches are about showing character and pulling back if you have lost a session or continue to keep the momentum going if you have won a session that’s the hallmark.”

I am really glad that if we look back at the England series not many things went our way in terms of toss and people talked a lot about the toss after the New Zealand series and then with 400 runs on the board we could still pull out a victory from there and not just a victory but a convincing one and I think that is the hallmark of this team.” the Indian coach explained.

Team India has their regular openers in Murali Vijay and KL Rahul in the team but have also added Tamil Nadu skipper Abhinav Mukund since they have recently had troubles with the opening batsmen injuring themselves ahead of the match.

“I don’t think opening slot is a concern at all Murali Vijay and KL Rahul played wonderfully well in the last series. We have a backup opener just in case something happens on the day of the match. As far as we are concerned the openers have always had some issues leading into the home series as well. So it’s just a concern and it’s always nice to have Abhinav who has the experience of not just playing at the international level and also a lot of runs in the domestic season just gone by so he is in good form and it’s a reward for what he intended to achieve in the domestic season.” Kumble said.

He remarked that the opposition had a decent tour of New Zealand and will definitely take confidence from their efforts in alien conditions. “We like to take every team same way Bangladesh had a good outing in New Zealand although the results are different but Bangladesh what they did in New Zealand we certainly respect the opposition and like I said irrespective of who the opposition is we like to measure our own performances and then treat every game in that fashion rather than the opposition and if we continue to do that we will have the results going our way. Bangladesh has some good players and allrounders.”

When asked about the team combination they would go in with for the game the 46-year-old said, “We haven’t looked at the combination yet. We have the ability to take 20 wickets you spoke about spinners dominating against England but the contribution of the fast bowlers against New Zealand and England cannot be ignored. It is a matter of getting the partnership right and in the end, people who can go out there and pick 20 wickets is what matters.”

He maintained that irrespective of how the pitch plays they will field a team that is most competitive and has the best chance to win the Test. “It doesn’t matter what the pitch is we will put in a combination that we think can out there and win the match.”

Team India gave Karun Nair a Test debut after Ajinkya Rahane injured his finger ahead of the Mumbai Test, batting in his third inning the Karnataka batsman converted his maiden century into a triple ton and became the second Indian batsman after Virender Sehwag to score a triple century.

But with Rahane fit and back in the team will Karun hold his place? Kumble dodged the question for now and said they haven’t decided upon the XI as of yet. “We haven’t thought about the combination, it’s nice Karun took his opportunity and did what he did in Chennai scoring the triple hundred but we all know what Ajinkya has done for India his performances have been phenomenal across conditions it’s nice that someone who came in to replace Ajinkya when he was injured in Mumbai and in three innings was able to score a triple hundred. We will take a look at the pitch tomorrow and take the decision.”

He praised the three Indian spinners and thought when they perform well in Indian conditions it isn’t regarded as much as it deserves. “They (Ashwin and Jadeja) are proven match winners and the ability to not bother about the conditions I think the conditions have been really challenging against New Zealand and England as well and not just the conditions the time factor was a major factor when we played against England if we take all that in consideration the way they built pressure on the opposition and pick wickets.”

“I was extremely pleased with Jadeja’s performance in Chennai, he bowled really slower than what he usually bowls and he picked up wickets. People tend to not give credit to the Indian spinner when they perform in India but at the end of it, it is the ability of the bowlers to pickup wickets. Ashwin is a proven world class bowler, to support him and as a combination as well they have done well. Jayant as well did really well before he got injured.” Kumble said.