By Rex Clementine, IANS,
Galle : After India squared the Test series against Sri Lanka, winning the second Test by 170 runs, captain Anil Kumble said he was confident of his team bouncing back after their disastrous show in Colombo.
India were mauled in the first Test by an innings and 239 runs, their third heaviest defeat in Tests. But Kumble’s boys fought back with a purpose to take the series to the decider Test at Colombo from Aug 8.
“I was confident we would come back. We have done that in past. One look at the dressing room shows you how much potential and quality this team has. Overall we played very well in this Test match and everybody contributed,” Kumble said.
“This team has been through ups and downs and it has a fair amount of experience and quality. There was no doubt that we will regroup and come back hard. I am really proud of the way we played this Test,” Kumble said.
The Indian skipper also lavished praise on Man-of-the-Match Virender Sehwag, who put India on top with an unbeaten double hundred in the first innings and followed that up with a half-century in the second innings.
“The way he scored runs in both innings was great. Gautam’s contributions also were vital. But Veeru getting those 201 runs in a total of 329 is something amazing. Taking that forward into the second innings is never easy but he batted brilliantly and gave us another strong start,” Kumble added.
Kumble also said that the referral system that has been trialed during this series need to be reconsidered after several issues cropped up when decisions were requested to be referred.
“It definitely requires a discussion. There are some areas, which really help the umpires, but there are some where it takes a long time and there is doubt about whether someone looking at a TV can take a call. If the umpire makes a mistake of giving somebody out lbw when it is obvious he has nicked it, then those decisions will help. But giving lbw decisions, it becomes a bit of an ambiguous stature,” the Indian captain said.