Melbourne, Dec 27 (UNI) Anil Kumble's first day bowling heroics against Australia in Melbourne were enough for the spin legend Shane Warne to use him as an example for the budding Australian spin bowlers.
Warne who was recently appointed by Cricket Australia to coach and develop young Australian spin bowlers said, ''The hardest time to bowl spin in an MCG Test match is day one and in the face of the big opening stand he came on and swung the game on his own.'' He said that it was Kumble's effort that made the difference on a day which could have totally gone towards Australia as the home side was in a strong position at lunch on day one with both the openers looking comfortable at the crease. ''He showed what a quality spinner he is, a great player.'' He still believed that the hosts were a fraction ahead of the visitors on day one because 337 was a good effort at the MCG wicket but India's batting has a lot of potential to surpass any score.
''It really is just about 50-50 right now, may be Australia just a fraction in front.
''No doubt 337 is still a lot of runs, but it could have been a lot worse for India and with the calibre of its batting there is every chance this tussle will continue to be an evenly matched contest.'' The champion leg spinner said that the Indians shouldn't have let Australia's last wicket pair to get into a partnership. ''Just towards the end I thought India could have taken the second new ball a little earlier but against that, Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson managed to put on 30-odd valuable runs for the last wicket.'' He was impressed with opener Matthew Hayden's 28th Test century saying, ''Hayden showed there are runs to be scored on this pitch, so the Australian bowlers will have to get it right against a batting line-up that boasts the likes of (Sachin) Tendulkar, (Sourav) Ganguly, (Rahul) Dravid and (VVS) Laxman.'' Speaking about his new role the spinner added ''I'll be working with all spinners and captains at first-class level in each state and I'll be sitting on the rules committee with Allan Border and Mark Taylor as well.
He was quick to make his priorities clear saying ''My priority is to try and get a quality spinner up and running for Australia in the future and to help the captains understand spin bowling more, I think that's really important.'' UNI
Warne who was recently appointed by Cricket Australia to coach and develop young Australian spin bowlers said, ''The hardest time to bowl spin in an MCG Test match is day one and in the face of the big opening stand he came on and swung the game on his own.'' He said that it was Kumble's effort that made the difference on a day which could have totally gone towards Australia as the home side was in a strong position at lunch on day one with both the openers looking comfortable at the crease. ''He showed what a quality spinner he is, a great player.'' He still believed that the hosts were a fraction ahead of the visitors on day one because 337 was a good effort at the MCG wicket but India's batting has a lot of potential to surpass any score.
''It really is just about 50-50 right now, may be Australia just a fraction in front.
''No doubt 337 is still a lot of runs, but it could have been a lot worse for India and with the calibre of its batting there is every chance this tussle will continue to be an evenly matched contest.'' The champion leg spinner said that the Indians shouldn't have let Australia's last wicket pair to get into a partnership. ''Just towards the end I thought India could have taken the second new ball a little earlier but against that, Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson managed to put on 30-odd valuable runs for the last wicket.'' He was impressed with opener Matthew Hayden's 28th Test century saying, ''Hayden showed there are runs to be scored on this pitch, so the Australian bowlers will have to get it right against a batting line-up that boasts the likes of (Sachin) Tendulkar, (Sourav) Ganguly, (Rahul) Dravid and (VVS) Laxman.'' Speaking about his new role the spinner added ''I'll be working with all spinners and captains at first-class level in each state and I'll be sitting on the rules committee with Allan Border and Mark Taylor as well.
He was quick to make his priorities clear saying ''My priority is to try and get a quality spinner up and running for Australia in the future and to help the captains understand spin bowling more, I think that's really important.'' UNI
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