“He (Kumble) has been a match victor of India”, board president Anurag Thakur said during the announcement.
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Mumbai: The BCCI on Thursday announced the appointment of Anil Kumble as the head coach of the Indian cricket team.
Anil Kumble has no coaching experience but he has 18 years’ experience playing global cricket. He was appointed as Test captain in November 2007.
Kumble’s first challenge comes in a four-Test series in the West Indies next month and he becomes the first Indian to take on the role since Kapil Dev in 2000. “Great things in store for Indian Cricket with you”.
Kumble has in his illustrious career spanning nearly two decades bagged 619 wickets in test matches and 337 in one day internationals. He was interviewed by the cricket advisory committee, comprising Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, on Tuesday after being included in the shortlist of 21 names. Some analysts, however, are not happy with the “one year deadline” to the new coach but they felt that he should have been given enough time.
The Karnataka player also has played 271 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) taking 337 wickets – most by an Indian.
Kumble has played 132 tests, claiming 619 wickets including a best of 10 for 74 against Pakistan in Delhi in 1999.
“He has been a match-winner for India”.
“We wanted the best for the Indian team”. BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke said it was to help Kumble acclimatise to the job easier and for the board to have the cushion to reassess their options.
“This is the first time that we have gone through a process starting with advertisements”.
“We have used the experience of the former cricketers to come to this conclusion”.
“Anil Kumble is now transforming himself from being the great on the cricketing field to becoming the great coach that we expect him to be”, he said.
The other big names in contention for the job were Ravi Shastri, Tom Moody, Stuart Law Lalchand Rajput, Pravin Amre and Andy Moles.
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Since Fletcher’s departure, Ravi Shastri continued in his role as Team Director.
