Bangalore: If there is one person who defines the adage, “taking it on the chin,“ it has to be former Indian spin legend Anil Kumble.
Not many can forget the aweinspiring images of 2002, when Kumble, who had fractured his jaw from a Mervyn Dillon delivery, returned to bowl for his team with a heavily strapped face. A man, who set such high standards on the field, is surely not the one who will walk away without a fight, be it off the pitch.
With allegations being bandied about his regime as the KSCA president, Kumble decided to stand up and deliver. On Wednesday, in a brutally frank talk, the former Indian skipper came out strongly against his critics, especially former secretary Brijesh Patel.
With the KSCA elections less than two weeks away, the 42-year-old Kumble spoke about his team's three-year tenure and the roadblocks they had to overcome.
Excerpts: Reason for not contesting: We have heard that we are scared of contesting. Let me assure you, it's a lot scarier facing a Mervyn Dillon after you have got hit on the jaw and taking the next delivery than facing an election. I am not running away from any election. If we can win once, we can also win twice. And it is not that we needed to be in power to contribute. Yes, when Srinath and I came into being president and secretary, our intention was to change all that had not happened in the last 12 years.
The reason that Karnataka cricket doesn't have a representative like it used to before in the Indian team is because there is no development of the game. That's the reason we came in, we wanted to contribute by creating infrastructure. We are not contesting, but we will be assisting and guiding in all the cricketing matters. I fully believe that as a cricketer, I have come in and I have contributed to the game.
On not supporting Brijesh Patel: One thing I know that there was a statement made by Mr Brijesh Patel saying that I'm welcome to contribute if he comes to power. That's not going to happen because I don't trust him. The trust is lost.
When you don't trust someone, it is impossible to contribute because people with good intentions need to be in the association, not people with vested interests. That's something that I will say straight. He needs to come and explain what his intentions are for coming back to power or to fight an election.
On the trials and tribulations as the president: I was humiliated. I am still being humiliated in becoming the president of KSCA. There is a court case pending, questioning my president-ship. The KSCA bylaw says that if you are a Test cricketer, for you to become a member, there used to be a cooling off period.
After your retirement, you needed to have a cooling off period of two years. I retired on November 2, 2008. On November 12, 2010, Brijesh met me and said, 'sorry , your membership is not valid'.
I got the shock of my life. I said 'for what'? He said, 'The registrar has rejected your membership'. As per the Registrar of Societies Act, any amendment to the rules or bylaws, should be filed within 30 days and he had sent a letter on Nov. 8.
I as, Anil Kumble, who has represented India in 132 Test matches and played 20 years for Karnataka, has to go through this to become a member of my own association just because I was filing my nomination as president of KSCA and taking away his role in the administration. We have been fighting for last three years at the high court.
Every time there is a general meeting or the Platinum Jubilee, one week prior to that this case suddenly comes up for hearing. And we have to use the best of lawyers to fight it.
On the candidates they are backing: We believe that we have identified the right leader in Dr (Sadanand) Maiya and AV Jayaprakash who will come in as secretary . He has travelled in the last 10 years as an international umpire and as an umpires' coach.
'KPL DIDN'T BENEFIT PLAYERS'
The much-hyped Karnataka Premier League, which was scrapped three years ago, after two editions, has come up for a lot of criticism. Clearing the air about the league-based tournament, Anil Kumble said, “People should realise that KPL was formed on the basis of the excellent reports about IPL in 2008 when it was launched.
When a franchise model is done, who needs to be beneficiary? The beneficiary needs to be cricketers, the cricket association and since it's a franchise model, even the franchises should benefit out of this whole exercise. KPL was done in a matter of four months.
The biggest beneficiary was Sporting Frontiers, the agency which was hired to conduct the KPL. In those two years  2008 and 2009close to Rs 1.6 and 1.7 crore were received by them as fees.
For cricketers, there was some opportunities there was this hope that cricketers from mofussil areas will benefit from KPL and that the money KPL bought will be used in the development of the infrastructure in mofussil areas. What was done in those three years? Nothing. And who was the best player in 2008? J Arun Kumar who is now the coach of the Karnataka Ranji team and David Johnson was the best bowler.
And how many mofussil players played in those two years? You can count that on your fingers. The average fee paid per player based on the salary cap each franchise hadit only comes to about Rs 35,000 to 40,000 rupees per player.
