Kumble considers IPL future after semi-final loss
Royal Challengers Bangalore captain, Anil Kumble, probably wouldn’t be alone among the ranks of the IPL’s more senior players if the thought of retiring from the competition after this season had crossed his mind.
The former India legspinner will be 40 in October, and now that his IPL team have made their exit from the 2010 tournament with a 35-run defeat against the Mumbai Indians the idea of pulling up stumps on his illustrious career once and for all is one he may well consider.
Sure, there’s a consolation play-off to focus on this Saturday, where Bangalore and the loser of the second semi-final between the Deccan Chargers and the Chennai Super Kings will face off for a place in this year’s Champions League – and if they win that there’s that competition to focus on later this year - but the ultimate IPL prize has once again eluded Kumble’s RCB.
“The Champions League is there, [but I am] pushing 40 so I don’t know,” Kumble told the media after Banglore’s semi-final loss. “[My] body needs to hold up and bowling four overs is not a problem.”
“The training to play these 16 games is not easy but, I think, personally I have done well, not too bad. I haven’t had an injury and have played all the 15 games and one more to go so I don’t know.
“I will have to just assess once this gets over and then sit down with the franchise and have a chat.”
It would be understandable if Kumble’s decision of whether or not to play on, and that of veteran Australian trio Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne, Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist and Chennai Super Kings opener Matthew Hayden, are influenced by the 2011 IPL auctions.
When all four players threw their names in the hat before the inaugural IPL season three years ago, their international playing days were either not such a distant memory or just drawing to a close. Hayden’s final Test for Australia in early January 2009 is the most recent international appearance by any of the quartet.
The next IPL auction, which is due to be held later in 2010, is likely to see all players thrown back into the pool for signing for what could well be another three-year period with their new teams.
Not only would the likes of Kumble, who took 13 wickets in his 15 matches for Bangalore this IPL season, be competing against a new crop of younger players who have begun to make their mark in Twenty20 cricket in the past two years, but by the time the third year of any potential contract were to finish, Kumble would be pushing 43; Warne would be nudging 44.
For the past three years, spectators have been somewhat spoiled that they’ve had the chance to watch such international greats on the big stage at a time when they might otherwise have been enjoying a quiet retirement, or been playing some rather more low-key domestic cricket.
At this stage of the game though, you couldn’t blame Kumble if he decided that his last googly for Bangalore this season was the last of his career.
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