Quote:
Originally Posted by feverpitch  Under Kumble, India are imbued with a fighting spirit and resilience they have not always been associated with. Whatever happens in the final Test, India have the players to defeat Australia when they meet in India later this year. |
One point on this Feverpitch
Is it Kumble that has imbued fighting spirit in the Indian team, or is it the circumstances?
In the first test i was watching the body language ( i know a fair bit about this subject) of the Indian team, and i noticed a certain internal tension within the "team" . In particular Dhoni and Dravid and others to a lesser extent.
I assume the captaincy issue is part of the cause. And of course, when you have one tribe and two or three wanting to be chief, you get factioning. There may be other issues as well, poeple dislike other people for a myriad of reasons, but often resent and jealosy is the cause for disharmony.
No matter what type of picture you want to paint, all is not well within the Indian team. There are at least two (perhaps more) that i suspect
want Kumble to fail.
And then events of the second test came along and this was a godsend for Kumble. As with all leaderships that face dissent (governments, dictators, cricket captains - whatever) they need an outside threat to help create temporary unity. This was achieved, and India played as a team.
But what happens when there is no big, bad Australia to play? How long before the unity falls back into factioning, due to a lack of common cause?
As i say, it believe it was circumstances, not Kumble, that created the rare spectacle of India playing as a team.