Anil Kumble

Singapore: Three from the Team India senior group — Test captain Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman — boarded Singapore Airlines’ Boeing 777-200 flight from Adelaide on Wednesday afternoon and, while the disappointment of not winning the Test series showed, their shoulders weren’t drooping.

After all, as Ricky Ponting acknowledged (and the Australian captain isn’t exactly fida over Indian cricket), Kumble and Co. proved worthy competitors and deserve the No.2 ranking in Tests.

The passionate Kumble, however, isn’t satisfied with being second-best.

“We’ve got the talent, we’ve got the characters and we’ve got the experience... If we continue to be consistent, day in and day out over the next 8-10 months, I don’t see why we can’t become No.1,” Kumble told The Telegraph.

“That’s the way forward for us and I’m very happy that both the senior group and the younger lot made significant contributions in the Test series... I accept we were outplayed at the MCG (first Test), but we should’ve saved the SGC game...

“Of course, the way we bounced back after Sydney was amazing... Few give visiting teams any chance in Perth, and most fold up in three days, yet we won (by 72 runs) inside four! Then, with a bowler short for almost the entire Test, we showed a lot of character at the Adelaide Oval,” Kumble added.

The Perth win remains Kumble’s stand out memory of the six weeks in Australia. “Nobody got a hundred and nobody got a fiver, yet we won so handsomely... Rare for Indian cricket... Rare for other teams too.”

Dravid top-scored, with 93 in the first innings. Among bowlers, Rudra Pratap Singh returned the best figures — four for 68 in Australia’s essay No.1.

While Kumble is “proud” of the way his team played, he agreed that the bottomline still showed a 1-2 defeat.

“Yes, I accept that what matters is the bottomline and that we didn’t win the four-Test series... The defeat hurts as we’d gone to win... The perfect result would’ve been a 2-1 win or, at least, a 1-1 draw... We couldn’t survive those few minutes at the SCG... That will stay a big disappointment,” Kumble said.

Asked if Virender Sehwag’s success had vindicated his decision to back the opener at the selection meeting, Kumble replied: “I certainly don’t see it as a personal vindication... Sehwag’s a quality player with a proven record... He’d done well on our last tour of Australia (2003-04)...”

The Test specialists won’t be in action till the three-match series, at home, against South Africa.

Kumble is looking forward to the break — “it’s always nice to get time with the family and time to take my camera out” --- and expects the South Africans to provide tough opposition.

“In recent times, they’ve done pretty well in India and I expect a tough series. As an opposition, they’re good,” Kumble signed off.

Footnote: Kumble and Dravid took a connecting flight to Bangalore, after the seven-hour journey from Adelaide, while Laxman headed for Hyderabad.