Top 40 Anil Kumble Quotes

It will be wonderful to get into the Indian dressing room as the coach. I am really looking forward to the challenge and the huge responsibility. I know there will be a lot of expectations and that is something which I am looking forward to.

If you are the top bowler in your team, you need to get the top batsman in the opposition. So it is expected and people just highlight that particular bit and make it sound like it is gamesmanship.

I think each one has his own style. I think, with me, I have always commanded the respect of my captains and I have always set my own field.

I like a challenge. Captaincy has always been a challenge for me.

Diabetes is a silent killer and awareness about the same is certainly lacking, hence I felt there was a need for me to get involved and assist in creating the required awareness.

I became captain after playing 17 years for India so probably I became captain by default because nobody else wanted it.

Cricket is all about looking out for your mate and playing as a unit.

What we tend to forget in a skill-based game, is that if you start paying too much attention to mind games, you’ll get into all kinds of avoidable issues. It’s not easy to ignore them, but you have to try.

No matter where I end up in terms of wickets or the number of matches that I play, I think people will always remember me taking 10 wickets. So it is something that is always going to be special for me and for Indian cricket.

I generally try to bowl one-on-one with the ‘keeper and bowl all the deliveries in my arsenal so that he can have a good look.

An Indian captain is a friend, guide, philosopher to the players under him.

Performance comes only when there is confidence. And for a player, his confidence increases if he knows his team-mates are confident of him, the media is confident of him, the fans back him.

When I was a player I used to feel that you are the captain of your own bowling, which I would like to try and inculcate, especially in the bowling group. That is important. All of them must believe that they are leaders.

I have been a player and now I am the coach, so I understand both the roles well.

I don’t think expectations will change as a player or as a captain. We have discussions and people who have played the game for long definitely express their views in a team meeting and I don’t see that changing much. But the expectations would be to ensure that we are consistent.

I’ve played my cricket very sincerely and honestly, that’s the approach my team takes, and we expect that from Australia as well.

There have been a lot of doubts created by people about my career. But I didn’t have those doubts, nor did my team members, nor my family.

In India you pick teams based on pitches, so it’s the bowlers who get changed. if it is a turning pitch a fast bowler can’t play, and if it is a green pitch, a spinner can’t play.

But one thing I would like to certainly clarify that I am no player-manager, nor is my company a talent management company. That needs to be very clear.

I just want to go out and enjoy my game and ensure that I contribute to the team’s success, to whatever I was doing before. I would like to continue that if not better whatever I was doing. It’s important for me to ensure that we win every time we go out, that’s the personal target and team goal.

I have always felt it is better to lose in pursuit of victory than to kill a game with defensive tactics.

Yes, you’ll try and set up a batsman and get him to play a few shots. It’s just that you are always trying to play a mental game with the batsmen and as long as you are doing that consistently throughout the day and keep asking questions you are bound to be successful.

As a coach I need to organise preparations for the team and give informed input to captain and the team to strategise better, inclusive of every player.

If it was a very senior team you can sit back and strategize. But for a young team you need be in the middle.

When I first played, I had the belief that I could go out there and win matches but when people saw me first I don’t they had the belief. I had to be able to be able to prove, to tell them you can count on me.

If I am trying to set up someone then I might go up to the keeper and say that I might bowl down the leg side. That’s where you feel that if the ‘keeper has a longer stint, he will read you better.

I’ll ensure that I go out there and enjoy my cricket and enjoy being captain of India.

I was involved with Gary Kirsten only for the Test matches, a very short period. He was, again, someone who worked in the background and didn’t make himself visible. Exactly how I’d like to work as well. Not in the front, but behind the scenes.

I believe that any ball can take a wicket.

But yes, I’m going to miss being a part of the team, sharing a dressing room, playing a test match, all those kinds of things.

I played a lot under John Wright, he’s been a great influence on how I’ll go about the job, in terms of being in the background. When I became a mentor for Mumbai Indians, I brought John in because he understood a lot about Indian culture and then the way coaches work.

It is challenging at times, especially while I am travelling, but my training gear and sports shoes are among the first things that go into my suitcase so that I can get in a good work-out session wherever I am.

Having myself bowled in the early stages of the innings, with field restrictions in place and two men perforce required in catching positions, I know what it takes to bowl on unresponsive tracks against quality batsmen.

I have always believed that the first Test of a series is very crucial.

It is a cliche to say that you need to take 20 wickets to win a Test and it is the bowlers who get you the 20 wickets.

There is a vast difference between playing Pakistan at home and away. I clearly recall, going into the quarter-finals at the Chinnaswamy stadium in 1996, that the pressure eased a bit when I stepped into a stadium where I had practically grown up as a cricketer.

Getting 20 wickets in test cricket will win you matches and that will be the focus.

I think people believe that Bengaluru as a city will be more aware because of its cosmopolitan nature. However, I don’t think that is necessarily true. Not many people today are even aware that they may have diabetes.

In a team game, everybody’s contribution is very important.

Captains realise over a period that if they plan right and understand the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition, luck attaches itself to their side.