Quotes from Anil Kumble

Cricket has always been about using street smarts and putting the opposition under pressure, on the field and off it.

If you are the top bowler in your team, you need to get the top batsman in the opposition. So it is expected and people just highlight that particular bit and make it sound like it is gamesmanship.

There is a vast difference between playing Pakistan at home and away. I clearly recall, going into the quarter-finals at the Chinnaswamy stadium in 1996, that the pressure eased a bit when I stepped into a stadium where I had practically grown up as a cricketer.

Aggression is not just the emotion that you show on the field, but at the end of it, you have to ensure that you play the game aggressively and the ball has to do the talking.

I think it's important for every individual to have a vision, to have an aim. If you don't have an aim, you don't think; if you don't think, you can't achieve.

I have always felt it is better to lose in pursuit of victory than to kill a game with defensive tactics.

There have been a lot of doubts created by people about my career. But I didn't have those doubts, nor did my team members, nor my family.

I think each one has his own style. I think, with me, I have always commanded the respect of my captains and I have always set my own field.

I don't think expectations will change as a player or as a captain. We have discussions and people who have played the game for long definitely express their views in a team meeting and I don't see that changing much. But the expectations would be to ensure that we are consistent.

I was involved with Gary Kirsten only for the Test matches, a very short period. He was, again, someone who worked in the background and didn't make himself visible. Exactly how I'd like to work as well. Not in the front, but behind the scenes.