A captain in denial

One bad game doesn't make him a bad player, says Kumble. True. But he averages 46 per wicket in the last 11 Test matches, including three series before this one. Even part-timer bowlers in Test cricket have better averages than that. Before the Test, he had said players should not be judged by one bad series in Lanka, a similarly misleading statement. He had also said it should be performance and fitness that should matter, not age. But, performance and fitness are exactly the problems. I said at the start of the Lanka series that Kumble is a spent force, and I was right. I made the same prediction before this series, and so far it is even worse than what I thought. I don't expect him to do much better in any of the matches, except the one in Delhi. India needs a new spinner and a new captain. Although Ricky Ponting was a bit too conservative in the first Test, at least he led by example. To be led by Kumble in his current form is an embarrassment for the Indian team. I wrote about this in - A contrast between two captains.