The next time I play Pakistan I'll give it back to them: Kumaran

The Asia Cup was a resounding failure for India. The bowling was put to the sword in each and every match. Even minnows Bangladesh managed to muster 249 against India. At the receiving end of the all this treatment were India's mediumpacers. T Kumaran, Amit Bhandari and Ajit Agarkar struggled on a belter of a batting track. Returning from the tour a disappointed man, Kumaran spoke exclusively to CricInfo at their studio in Madras. And the following excerpts from the interview reveal a young man keen to settle scores:

AV: You took a lot of stick in the recently concluded Asia Cup. What was the Dhaka experience like?

TK: Against Sri Lanka I was more tense. Sanath Jayasurya and Aravinda de Silva were opening the innings. I have seen Jayasuriya smash everybody in every possible place. All I told myself was, stick onto a stump line, keep bowling there, don't give him room, don't give him anything short. Let him try something and make a mistake. This was what I told myself. De Silva converted many good balls into loose deliveries and hit them for four. In my first spell I bowled only three overs. In the second spell I decided not to give anything short, not even just short of a length. I kept it right up and was rewarded.

Although Kumaran managed to come back well against Sri Lanka, it was an entirely different story against arch rivals Pakistan. In an innings of 100 off 113 balls, Yousuf Youhana collared the Indian mediumpacers. His second 50 runs came off just 23 balls. The last 10 overs India sent down yielded over 100 runs. Sheer carnage.

AV: What was it like in the big match against Pakistan?

TK: Against Pakistan I was again pretty confident. But they are more positive and if they get the ball in their range they give it the full treatment. It was a bit of a shock. I learned what I should not try. I need to be more disciplined in my bowling. When there's even a little bit of error they smash the ball to all parts. That game taught me a lesson, from which I have to learn really fast. Playing against Pakistan is war. Even when I was watching on television as a kid it was war. I personally was very keen to do well against Pakistan. I just can't take losing against Pakistan. Nobody likes to lose to Pakistan. I was desperate to do well, and concentrated hard, but things just didn't go my way. The last ball was another disappointment. I didn't know that Youhana was on 94. I thought I'd bowl a yorker and keep him quiet. It turned out that the ball was short of yorker length. Youhana went back, waited for it and played it brilliantly. When I saw the ball disappear over my head and saw the scoreboard I realised that Youhana was exactly hundred with that six. I was so angry at myself. But these things happen in cricket. There's no point brooding over them.

After conceding this much, Kumaran had a glint in his eye. "The next time I play Pakistan I'll really give it back to them." He said.