Sport

Kumble dismisses VRS theory

Bangalore: A feisty Indian Test skipper Anil Kumble ruled out a probable ‘Voluntary Retirement Scheme’ (VRS) pact between the senior cricketers and the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

“There has been no discussion (on VRS). All this is happening in the media and only in the media. No one has spoken to us on these terms and neither have we,” Kumble said here on Thursday.

Kumble also stressed the need for ‘respect’ in media circles while debating the role of senior players.

“We have been playing for 18 years and if we couldn’t handle pressure, we wouldn’t have played (for) so long. It is just that the scrutiny needs to be a bit more respectful.

“When people discuss cricketers, it needs to be handled respectfully and if that is done then we don’t mind the scrutiny but when it is done in a rubbish way, then it hurts.

As sportsmen, we go out there to perform and win for the country and we have been doing that for the last 18 years,” Kumble said.

Kumble added that the scrutiny of players’ vis-À-vis their age is a media exercise and that the BCCI and selectors have analysed cricketers only on the basis of their performance.

“The BCCI and the selectors have never scrutinised us on the basis of age. For them it’s just about the players and their performance. If age was the sole criteria then I should have retired some time back.”

“The players have performed exceptionally well and it’s just that one bad series against Sri Lanka. But if you go back to the record then I don’t think that the senior players ever performed that badly.

“The reason that we had those results in Australia was thanks to the batsmen getting those runs. Leading up to this series there is a lot of time to speculate so that’s the reason all this is happening.

“As far as I am concerned we have the quality to go out there and get the runs and get the wickets. I think we have the quality to still do that and still perform for India.”

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