A long season, 17 cricket matches and not one series lost – Anil Kumble is a proud coach of the Indian cricket team today.
After trailing at the start of the series, India came back strong to beat Australia 2-1 in the four-match series. Coach Kumble was all praises for Ajinkya Rahane who replaced injured Virat Kohli as captain for the last Test in Dharamsala.
At the start of the season, we spoke about taking one series at a time, one match at a time, one session at a time. To come back from 1-0 down, when you could see there were tired bodies around, it was brilliant. Ajinkya Rahane led the team brilliantly after losing the toss.Anil Kumble
He added:
The fast bowlers throughout the season have bowled brilliantly. The positives have been adapting to conditions. We have had almost 25 players starting from West Indies. All 25 have stood up in different conditions. The one area we need to improve is catching.
Jadeja Out of the Shadows: Anil Kumble
Coach Kumble also praised Dharamsala’s man of the match and man of the series Ravindra Jadeja for his stellar performance throughout the season.
Jaddu was brilliant through the season. He has always been in the shadows, but he has now come out of it. With this kind of line-up, with the lower-order contributions, I don’t see any reason why we can’t win abroad.
This Season Reply to Those Who Didn’t Consider Me a Test Bowler: Ravindra Jadeja
Man of the Match and the Man of the Series and the no 1 Test bowler in the world right now, Ravindra Jadeja said this season was a response to those who didn’t consider him a Test cricketer.
Very good to be the No 1 Test bowler. And being part of this champion Test side. When I batted, I was thinking to take my time and then Matthew Wade chirped from behind. That motivated me. If I can respond to him with runs, it will be great. Coaches and captain have been telling me I have the skill to bat long. I developed as a player overall.Ravindra Jadeja
He added:
Some time ago people didn’t consider me a Test bowler. This season is a good response to them. Ashwin and I maintain pressure from both ends. The variation of off spinner and left-arm spinner also works well. Hopefully we can continue this outside India too. I will try to get to a hundred next time, and celebrate with two bats as swords.
Ashwin Praises Ravindra Jadeja After Series Win
Ravichandran Ashwin gave his spin colleague Ravindra Jadeja credit for supporting him through the season. After sharing the top spot in the ICC Test bowlers ranking, Jadeja pipped Ashwin to become world number one.
Jaddu (Jadeja) and I have been hand in hand and hand in glove all season. Whenever we bowled in tandem we broke the opposition pretty well. Credit needs to be given to Jaddu. He’s is one of the most economical bowlers, it just gives me a little bit of cushion to try and experiment a bit more.R Ashwin
On Umesh Yadav’s three wicket haul in the second innings that broke the Australian batting order, Ashwin said:
Yesterday was really special. The game in balance, and Umesh blasting them away. To get David Warner and Renshaw was very very important.
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