Anil Kumble the Best Captain I Played Under: Gautam Gambhir

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has named former teammate Anil Kumble as the best captain he played under during his time with the national team. Gambhir acknowledged the feats of other great skippers like Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni but placed Kumble right at the very top.

The cricketer-turned-politician believes if Kumble had led Team India for a longer period, he would have broken every captaincy records.

“Yes MS Dhoni in records point of view, right up there but yes, for me the best captain I’ve played under is Anil Kumble,” Gambhir said during Star Sports ‘Cricket Connected’ show.

“Sourav has done really well. One captain that I would have definitely wanted to captain India for a long time is Anil Kumble. I played six Test matches under him probably; he didn’t captain India for that long. Had he captained India for a long time, he would have broken a lot of records,” he added.

Kumble took over the reigns of the team from Rahul Dravid in 2007. He led the side in 14 Tests — winning three, losing six and drawing five times.

Kumble — who still remains the highest wicket-taker for India in both Tests and ODIs — called time on his glorious career in 2008 as Dhoni was named skipper in all three formats.