The Indian cricket team's anticipated return to the country was greeted with the final announcement regarding the head coach. After a successful run in Zimbabwe, marred only by the hideous incident of sexual molestation, it would seem that the squad is all set to start training under the former leg-spinner. Anil Kumble's performance as the head coach will be monitored with interest by the cricket community in the world at large.
At the press conference after the news of his appointment was announced, Kumble was ever modest as he addressed doubts about his lack of coaching experience. Anil Kumble has, for now, been appointed for just one year to see how things can function under him.
India is set to play 13 Tests in the upcoming year in the cricketing calendar, the maximum number India has every played until now. If popular media is to be believed, Virat Kohli is gradually gaining the support of top BCCI officials and is set to oust current skipper MS Dhoni as captain for all formats of the game. Kumble, however, is having none of it.
Immediately after his press conference, he announced that he had yet to communicate with the players and let them know what his short-term and long-term plans for the team are. With one single tweet soon after this, Kumble established who, according to him, was the leader and the captain of the Indian Cricket line-up.
Dhoni led the Men in Blue to an ODI and T20I triumph in Zimbabwe, a fact that has not escaped the new coach's notice. His tweet, though, comes as a show of massive respect for the captain and an outright declaration that he still considers Dhoni as the leader of the pack. Dhoni is scheduled to be out of play until October and will return for New Zealand's tour of England.
In the tweet, Kumble also made it a point to mention that he was eagerly looking forward to working with the team. He has also sent encouraging messages to the individual players who congratulated him, saying that he was looking forward to starting training as soon as possible. He shrugged off reports of a supposed “conflict of interest” which may not allow him to concentrate completely on this new venture.
The former test captain of India was selected as head coach out of a total of 57 applications to the BCCI. Since yesterday, Kumble has taken out the time to respond to all the congratulatory tweets that have been pouring in for him. We wish him success in his new endeavour.
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