Thursday 16th October 2008 13 Time for Kumble to decide criticism by the Chappell brothers. sands of runs. Kumble is fortunate that he is not being Both Tendulkar and Dravid seemed subjected to that sort of criticism. He to have batted well under pressure. Kumble was a mem- still commands respect. Nobody needs to tell them how to handle ber of the Indian team By agreeing to the request of Sourav pressure. It’s the mindset that decides Ganguly to let him play the entire series the course of action. when Javagal Srinath the selectors have set a bad precedent At the moment it’s their defensive and have indirectly assured all the sen- mindset that is ruining their natural was made to delay iors that they too will be given a long play. his international rope to decide their fate. For this service We need to realise this game is to the nation, each selector is paid Rs. 25 greater than the individual. All the debut as the lakh! greats have disappeared from the scene selectors were In the beautiful garden city of but this game continues to produce Bangalore, the 22 yard brown colour greats. The last thing one wants to see is keen to let Kapil strip at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium these greats struggling in the middle. may have been an eyesore but it stood by Sentiments and emotions sometimes Dev break its reputation. Prepared by the curator cloud judgments. But performances indi- Richard Phil Stoyanoff from New Zealand obvi- cate the clear picture. Bangalore Test ously as per the instructions from the gave enough signs of things to come. If Hadlee’s record. team management, it wasn’t a bad Test the selectors are turning a blind eye, match pitch but when mattered injured Indian team will suffer. For three years Kumble couldn’t bowl in the second (Mumbai Mirror) Srinath was in the innings. Nor did he look like an interna- tional bowler who had taken 600 plus reserves. Surely, Test wickets while bowling in the first Kumble must have innings. Was Kumble carrying an injury? Bangalore must be the only cen- witnessed that turmoil tre in the country which strives hard to create ideal cricketing atmosphere so of a fellow player, up- that the cricketers get optimum condi- close.Would he want in- tions to play. But did the Indian team do justice to the conditions they had asked form leggie Amit Mishra and for? Thanks to the partnership of Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, the Anil Kumble’s poor form continued as he failed to pick up a wicket in Piyush Chawla to suffer the Aussies couldn’t pocket the Test on the the first Test in Bangalore and to make things worse was hampered by same fate? fourth day. a shoulder injury as well. The moot question is whether some of the players are physically and men- tally fit to handle the pressure. No one by Makarand Waingankar badly bruised jaw in the Antigua made to delay his international debut as has any doubts about their performanc- Test in 2002 but it’s time he does the selectors were keen to let Kapil Dev es over the years but to connoisseurs of the game it was evident at Bangalore Timing is very important in some serious re-thinking about his break Richard Hadlee’s record. For three that the middle order struggled and the game of cricket. It is also very future. years Srinath was in the reserves. bowlers, the spinners let India down. important in a cricketer’s career. He just needs to look at videos Surely, Kumble must have witnessed It’s not a criticism. It’s a statement of Sometimes knowing the right of his performance in the that turmoil of a fellow player, up-close. facts. career moves to make may help a Bangalore Test and he will realise Would he want in-form leggie Amit We have seen Tendulkar maul Shane cricketer exit gracefully or take a that he is definitely not helping Mishra and Piyush Chawla to suffer the Warne. In Bangalore we were watching well-deserved break, rather than himself by continuing to bowl same fate? Tendulkar pushing and prodding earn brickbats at a low-point in with a sore shoulder in an inter- His answers to the none-too-contro- against debutant mediocre leggie his profession. national game. There is a big dif- versial questions in the pre-match press Cameron White. We have seen Anil Kumble is known to be a ference in saying ‘fit enough to conference clearly reflected his state of Tendulkar nailing top world class fast fighter. Any captain would love to bowl’ and ‘bowls like an interna- mind. And he is not the first captain to bowlers. That forceful play is missing. have him as a cricketer in the tional bowler.’ have gone through such a miserable He is at his best when he attacks. Why team. He showed admirable He was a member of the period. Australian captain Kim Hughes change the approach when the same courage when bowling with a Indian team when his Karnataka broke down while announcing his retire- colleague Javagal Srinath was ment mainly because of the outrageous approach has helped him score thou- Kumble Nadal gains 3rd round dismisses at Madrid Masters retirement by Paul Logothetis 22-minute opening match. rumours MADRID, Spain (AP) — In other second-round match- Rafael Nadal moved within two es, U.S. Open finalist Andy wins of clinching the year-end No. Murray advanced while 11th-seed- NEW DEHLI (AP) - India captain 1 ranking, defeating Ernests ed James Blake and 13th-seeded Anil Kumble says he is ignoring Gulbis 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 Tuesday to Fernando Verdasco lost. media rumours about him retiring reach the third round of the Murray moved on when and hopes to recover from a shoulder Madrid Masters. Simone Bolelli of Italy retired injury in time for the second cricket Next up for Nadal, the 2005 with an apparent shoulder injury test against Australia starting Friday. Madrid champion, will be 15th- while trailing 6-0, 2-1. Murray will Dismissing mounting specula- ranked Richard Gasquet. Gasquet next play Croatia’s Marin Cilic, tion, both in India and abroad, that overcame 23 aces by Mardy Fish who beat Verdasco 6-2, 6-3. the injury which limited his participa- to win 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-3. “I’ve been playing really,really tion in the first test may spell his Nadal was taken to four sets well in practice the last few weeks, demise, Kumble said he was disre- by Gulbis en route to the better than I was playing through- garding “various uncharitable com- Wimbledon title, and Tuesday’s out the summer,” said Murray, ments” and would go out on his on match was similarly troubling for who won his first Masters Series terms. the Spaniard. title in Cincinnati in August. “I’m “I am hopeful the shoulder injury Nadal has never been a fan of probably mentally fresher now I picked up during the match (after the Spanish capital’s high altitude than the U.S. Open.” bowling 40 overs in the first innings) and the extra speed it brings to the Gilles Simon of France won 3- should be fine by the second test and hard court. He had a difficult time 6, 6-1, 6-4 to keep Blake winless in that it will be business as usual,” keeping up with the Latvian as he five appearances at the tourna- Kumble wrote in a column for stuck his shots, including a back- ment. Simon saved four break Wednesday’s Hindustan Times. hand down the line to break for 2-0 points in the second set and con- The leg-spinner, who will turn 38 in the second. verted two of his own before domi- on Friday and has been playing test In the deciding set, Gulbis had nating the final set. cricket since 1990, said he “can’t a break opportunity in the third Blake has only a few tourna- promise things I have no control over, game. But Nadal held and broke in ments left to qualify for the but the one thing that I can guarantee the next game as Masters Cup. He’s in ninth place is that I won’t give up the fight.” Gulbis smashed a in the standings for the top-eight forehand long. event. “The belief that I have in my Nadal served In first-round play,the win- team, and the belief that the team has out and pumped ners included French Open semi- in me is what matters the most. his fists in finalist Gael Monfils, American “When I decide to make a final relief at the end qualifier Robby Ginepri, qualifier bow, I’ll go on my own terms.” of his 2-hour, Marcel Granollers, Philipp Kumble failed to take a wicket in Kohlschreiber, Jarkko Nieminen, the first test, which ended in a draw Victor Hanescu, Robin Soderling, Monday, for only the third time in his and Feliciano Lopez . 131-test career. The injury limited him to just eight overs in the second innings. “It’s perhaps easy to say one must Rafael Nadal of ignore the media but for any normal Spain celebrates person, that’s a difficult ask, given the defeating Ernests media’s overwhelming presence in Gulbis, from cricket,” he said. “I would really Latvia, after his appreciate if certain people realize tennis match at that cricket is not spoken, it’s played the Madrid and we, the Indian team, are out to Masters, in play it.” Madrid, Tuesday, Kumble has played 131 tests for Oct.