India's newly-appointed cricket coach has made it clear that he wants his bowlers to be leaders, "their own captains". A legendary leg-spinner who famously bowled in a Test match with a fractured jaw held together by bandages, Anil Kumble, in his playing days, was the ideal mix of industry and ideation.
As helmsman of Indian cricket for the foreseeable future, one of the main tasks ahead of him is to revitalise R Ashwin, the country's principal off-spinning all-rounder, who seems to have lost his mojo in the longest format seeking the instant gratification of abbreviated cricket.
Thanks to India's busy subcontinental calendar, Ashwin ended 2015 as the world's leading Test bowler and all-rounder. But no more than two years ago, he was being taken apart for losing his sting in whites, especially on tour.
Ashwin's insistence on sending down six different deliveries in an over in Tests was a direct consequence of too much limited-overs cricket. Increasingly, as he relied less and less on his stock ball -- the off spinner -- the crucial matter of plotting the downfall of batsmen went for a toss.
Then there is the gulf in his performances home and away.
And that is where Kumble can make a difference, at least in terms of attitude and approach.
It wasn't always that India's record wicket-taker in Tests and ODIs had the benefit on rank turners to ply his trade on. On big overseas tours, Kumble was known for long, backbreaking spells in unhelpful conditions, such as the one most subcontinental bowlers experience overseas.
Kumble's greatest asset was perhaps his ability to keep pegging away, turn in monster spells in the hope that the batsman's focus - rather than his back - would be the first to shatter. The Bengalurean did have his bag of tricks, but it was indeed his stock ball that always did the most damage.
As bowlers, Kumble and Ashwin do have some superficial similarities. Both are tall and rely on bounce. Both have been the chief strikers for their teams, someone to whom their captains turned when a breakthrough was needed.
Can the new coach awaken in his trump card bowler a zest for the hard grind? The understanding that being a match-winner in Tests has more to do with planning and execution than stray sparks of genius? Even Shane Warne, arguably the greatest leg-spinner ever, often resorted to the seemingly drab ploy of outwitting batsmen over an entire session's play, as opposed to blasting them out with 'zooters'!
Even more importantly, can Kumble impress upon Ashwin that, when the time comes, his legacy will be determined not by the coolness and colour of IPL, but by how he fares in pristine whites.
Not that Ashwin, who turns 30 this September and already has a bagful of wickets across formats, doesn't already know this. It's just that sometimes one needs an external push from someone who's been there.
For that, there can be no better person than Kumble.
