Awestruck Vijay hopes to feed off Kumble

Former India wicketkeeper Kiran More, who was present at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore on the second day of India's training camp on Thursday, had called Anil Kumble the Muhammad Ali of cricket, after the legspinner ended his 18-year Test career in November 2008. Kumble was the ultimate fighter, as exemplified during his uninterrupted 14-over spell, which included the wicket of Brian Lara, with a broken jaw in Antigua in 2002. In his final Test, against Australia, Kumble probed away, despite an injury to his left hand.

Throughout his career, Kumble was always at the batsmen, his face mirroring a cocktail of focus and intensity. He brought the same focus and intensity as an administrator, and it was intact during his first net session as India's head coach.

Kumble was among the first to step onto the ground, ahead of training, and ensured the nets were in good shape after rain had forced the players indoors on Wednesday. Kumble stood at the centre and supervised the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra to Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. Jayant Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreyas Gopal, and Karun Nair, who are not part of the squad for the Caribbean tour, also rolled their arms over, but there was a prominent absentee - R Ashwin. The offspinner, who regards Kumble as his idol, missed practice on Thursday because of personal reasons. He is set to the join the preparatory camp on Friday, according to the BCCI.

Virat Kohli faced throwdowns from Sanjay Bangar, the batting coach, and Raghavendra, the team's throwdown specialist, before easing into drives against the spinners. He took regular trips down the pitch and drilled the ball straight. Ishant Sharma, sporting a samurai bun, then arrived and tested the batsmen in the channel outside off. When the seamer had issues with his landing area, Kumble himself applied sawdust and evened things up.

The clock ticked to 10.45 am, and Kumble unzipped his winter jacket. He windmilled his arms as Cheteshwar Pujara took guard. He jogged and floated seam-ups, which Pujara blunted with a straight bat. Next up to face the coach was M Vijay. The opener was given a quick leg-stump ball, which he whipped firmly. Kumble couldn't hide his excitement and exclaimed: "shot".

Kumble largely bowled seam-ups, for about 45 minutes, and Vijay couldn't hide his awe for the former India captain though they haven't spent enough time with each other, at the press conference. Vijay was handed his Test debut in the fourth Test against Australia in Nagpur, a few days after Kumble had retired.

"He's [Kumble's] been an unbelievable cricketer for the Indian team," Vijay said. "We are really looking forward to sharing some quality time with him... I couldn't spend a lot of time with him then. But I've been a great fan of him as a youngster, who isn't?! It is a great opportunity for us to talk to him about cricket, his thought processes and learn from that and move forward. I think it is going to be a great time for us."

When asked about Kumble's impact, Vijay said it was "too soon" and pulled off a classic leave outside off. Vijay, though, believed that the head coach's vast experience as a player would serve the young side well.

"Over a period of time, it's going to be good for us, because he has 900 [956] international wickets under his belt," Vijay said. "It's going to be great for us to know what kind of things we can expect in a high-pressure game. It's going to be good for us as a batting unit, as well. It's going to be a great 12 months for us. That much I can guarantee as a team."

Kumble worked more closely with the spinners in the afternoon session, having lengthy chats with Jadeja, Nadeem and Jayant. Even when one of the younger net bowlers strayed down the leg side, Kumble gesticulated to keep it tight and straight.

If Kumble can inject his focus and intensity into the young side, India have a chance to be the best in all three formats, as he had said in his first press conference as the head coach.