By IANS,
Bangalore : A day after Sourav Ganguly declared the end of his international career, India’s Test skipper Anil Kumble said in no uncertain terms to stop speculating about retirement of senior players and allow them to play freely in the series against Australia starting here Thursday.
Kumble said the Bangalore Test would be his last on home ground but was furious over speculation on his retirement from international cricket.
“Let us stop all this for now,” Kumble told a pre-match press conference at the Chinnaswamy stadium when asked whether he was retiring after the four Test series against Australia.
“Let the players decide when they need to go. I will let the people know which my last series is. Right now I am saying neither yes nor no,” he said.
Kumble, 37, said he did not plan beyond one series at a time and hence cannot say when he is retiring.
“This is my last Test match in Bangalore. I don’t know when the next Test match is. I don’t want to look that far away.”
Kumble said Ganguly’s decision to retire after the four Test series would not affect the team.
“I don’t think it’s a distraction. It’s his personal choice,” he added.
“Ganguly has had a fantastic career. Hope this series will be good both for him and team India. Our focus is go out there and do the job for the team.”
Speculation about the shelf-life of the senior players has been were in the air after their failure in the Sri Lanka series. With Ganguly deciding to call it a day, reports of a formula being worked out with the Indian cricket board on phasing out the senior players have gathered momentum though the board and the selectors have strongly denied such plans.