'Kumble should be eased out of captaincy'

Mumbai: Despite Anil Kumble doing a decent job with the Test captaincy at the fag end of his career, India’s former Test stars, including Erapalli Prasanna and Ajit Wadekar, feel the leg spinner should be eased out of the captaincy sooner than later so that Mahendra Singh Dhoni gets enough time to settle down as the Test captain after leading the ODI and Twenty20 teams quite successfully.

Legendary off-spinner Prasanna, who hails from the same state (Karnataka) as Kumble, firmly believes that the change of guard has to happen sooner than later and Dhoni’s inexperience at Test level should not be held against him from taking over the mantle.

"With due respect to Kumble’s past achievements (600 plus Test wickets), there is very little doubt that he is at the fag end of his career. Moreover India needs a young and dynamic player at the helm. To prolong Kumble’s career for a year more it is better he is not burdened with the captaincy as the additional burden seems to have affected his bowling during the Sri Lanka series," Prasanna told Cricketnext.com on Sunday.

"Moreover, I don’t see why so much of fuss is being made about Dhoni’s inexperience as a Test player, in the early 60s Nawab of Pataudi was made the captain when he was just 21 (years old) and he did not let the selectors down. Agreed, Dhoni has a long way to go as a Test player, but then the success he has tasted as a One-Day and Twenty20 skipper may give him the confidence to do well in Test cricket as well," he added.

"I personally believe that it is better to entrust the captaincy to Dhoni when his confidence is high after leading the side to two vital ODI series win against Australia (tri-series) and Sri Lanka because he is the only candidate for the job at the moment as the other senior member of the team Virender Sehwag has been in and out of the Test team despite being the only Indian to score two triple centuries," Prasanna pointed out.

Former Indian captain and coach, Ajit Wadekar, wanted Kumble to continue for the next two home series against Australia and England but strongly backed Dhoni to take over if the hosts failed to win either of the series.

"Kumble has served the country very well and he is a true fighter respected even by his opponents. The Indians will be playing six Test matches (four against the Aussies and two against the Englishmen) in the next three months. If Kumble can achieve even fifty per cent of success in the next six Tests, then he should continue to lead for some more time otherwise he should be replaced with Dhoni, who is the lone contender for that post," Wadekar, who led India to their first ever overseas Test wins in 1971, said.

"Probably, other countries too should take a leaf out of Aussie and Proteas’ books in grooming future captains when an established player is still at the helm. The Aussies are grooming Michael Clarke despite Ricky Ponting fully justifying his captaincy material likewise the South Africans entrusted the leadership to a very young Graeme Smith even when many seniors like Jacques Kallis and Harshelle Gibbs were around," he added.

"If you see the recent success of Kevin Pietersen after he took over England captaincy from Michael Vaughan, one is tempted more and more to accept that a youngster can make a good captain. But the difference here again is that Pietersen had already established himself a fine Test cricketer while Dhoni is yet to do so but if he does well in the next couple of home series, he will be an automatic choice for the selectors as he has enough experience as the ODI and Twenty20 skipper," Wadekar observed.

Another former Karnataka stalwart and Indian middle order batsman Gundappa Vishwanath, who is tipped to take over from Venkatpathi Raju as the South Zone selector, however did not want to comment on this delicate issue.

"I don’t like to comment on this issue. It is just not right to do so at this moment," he said.