Kumble sees India as being #1 in all forms of cricket

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24597149-5001505,00.html

He also thinks that India is the only real challenger to the Aussies.

I've left India on way to the top, says Kumble

Malcolm Conn | November 04, 2008
RETIRING captain Anil Kumble believes that India is on a steady upward march which will soon see it rule the cricket world.Stepping down at the end of the drawn third Test in New Delhi on Sunday, Kumble is comforted by the fact that his team is leading the four-match series 1-0.

India needs only to draw the last Test, beginning here on Thursday, to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar trophy Australia won when it triumphed here for the first time in 35 years back in 2004.

Kumble, 38, feels that following the close if acrimonious Test series in Australia last summer, India is the only team consistently challenging the fading world champions. "As a team I think we're showing a lot more resilience and India is the only team that is really competing against the Aussies," he said.
"I believe Indian cricket has gone further (ahead) from when I started in 1990 in terms of results, not just in India but abroad.

"I can only see that the results will improve. The next generation of cricketers will take Indian cricket ahead."

Given its massive financial resources and the enormous passion for cricket among its huge population, India must one day dominate the game on the field.

It already does in the board room. Generating 80 per cent of the game's wealth allows India to treat the International Cricket Council as its own private fiefdom, not always to the greater good of the game.

According to the ICC team rankings, India still has plenty to do to breathe Australia's rarefied air at the top of the Test and one-day tables.

On the Test table Australia has 138 points compared to South Africa's 116 and India's 109. On the one-day table India is listed fifth with 113 points compared to Australia's 131. South Africa is second with 118.

And India is now facing the same transition Australia has been through in the past year or two, with a number of greats on their last legs.

The injured and ageing Kumble, who would not have been able to play the last Test because of a badly injured left finger, has already gone and Sourav Ganguly will follow him into retirement after the next Test.

Rahul Dravid is also in trouble. He has managed just 117 runs at 23.4 in three Tests.

Dravid, 36 in January, has averaged better than 38 in just one of his past seven series.

India surprisingly lost its three-Test series in Sri Lanka last August, putting pressure on its ageing stars, but Kumble sees a bright future ahead.

Certainly some of the talented batsmen who flogged Australia's bowlers during a pre-Test tour match in Hyderabad suggests there is talent aplenty.

And Ishant Sharma, 20, will soon be the best fast bowler in the world if he is not already.

"I am confident that this young team, with a few of the senior players still there, I think we have a great opportunity to dominate world cricket and be number one in all forms of the game," Kumble said.

"In one-day cricket were pretty close and in Twenty20 we are the No1 team in the world. And I don't think we're that far behind in Test cricket as well so it would be great to see that happen."

Ponting was surprised when he heard from umpire Aleem Dar after the tea break on Sunday that Kumble, the game's third highest wicket-taker with 619, was retiring.

"He'll go down as one of the modern day greats of not only Indian cricket but world cricket. His record in all conditions speaks for itself," Ponting said.

Well, he wasn't likely to say that it'll be doomsday once he retires.