By IANS
New Delhi : India’s new Test captain Anil Kumble said here Tuesday that he would be the “voice of the team”, and stressed that leading the country would be a challenge.
Speaking at a press conference at which he was announced as a brand ambassador of the Manipal Education, Kumble, who would lead India against Pakistan in the first of the three Tests starting here Thursday, hoped that he would also take a bagful of wickets with his leg-spinners.
“Leading the side is challenging. I’ll do what the job demands,” he said in his typical understatement.
“I will be the voice of the team,” he said, when coaxed to field some cricketing questions at a platform where he was supposed to be talking about education.
Kumble, 37, said it would be a folly to take Pakistan lightly, even if they are not a team they used to be, with Inzamam-ul-Haq having retired and pacer Mohammed Asif missing due to an injury.
“We have to respect the opposition. We know what Pakistan as a team can do,” he pointed out.
Kumble will be, incidentally, making his captaincy debut at a ground that happens to be his favourite.
“It has to be Delhi. It started from Delhi,” he said, when reminded that he would be playing at the Ferozeshah Kotla.
It was here in 1999 that Kumble took all 10 wickets in the second Pakistani innings to bowl India to a series-levelling victory. India had lost the first Test in Chennai and drew the series 1-1 with win in Delhi.
Talking about his association with Manipal Education, Kumble said that it was their effort to impart education of high standard that made him accept the brand ambassadorship.
“It’s one of things that dragged me into Manipal,” he said, lauding the institution’s “extraordinary” infrastructure.
“Education is important. It helps analyse success and failure. If India has to grow, it’s very important that people do post-graduation,” he said.
Manipal Education’s managing director Anand Sudarshan said that Manipal has a total of 125,000 students studying at 30 institutions in India and abroad.