Former India captains Virender Sehwag and Anil Kumble headlined the first Star India subsidiary Hotstar’s CricFest here at the City View Metreon.

“This is my first trip to San Francisco and though I have little time here, I am looking forward to meeting the techies of the Valley. Where we are today in technology is a small iota in terms of aspirations. Interaction possible through tech is of great interest to me,” said Kumble.

Kumble concluded his speech by introducing Sehwag to the crowd saying, “When he was on the field, opposition hated him and we watched nervously because it could either be a six, or he could return back (get out) very quickly, but mostly he was very good.”

“I can only provide the facilities, hard work is for them to do,” Sehwag said about his residential school in Delhi.

Kumble also spoke about how he was criticized for his lack of ability to spin the ball.

Kumble said, “You don’t necessarily need to spin the ball to get a wicket. I had to be innovative and technology helped, especially in the second half of my career when speed guns and radar were introduced. The speed at which I could bowl was critical. In 1999-2000, I started bowling the googly. You have to evolve and especially in current day cricket, you have to be innovative—both as a batsman and a bowler.”

“I played bindaas in my style. My philosophy was that if I also played the same way as Tendulkar, Dravid or Laxman who took long to score runs, then since I was a youngster, no one would remember me, but I took the strategy to score early,” Sehwag said recalling Ganguly asking him to open the innings.

He later went on to talk about the advice of Tendulkar or Srinath to analyze and visualize the game to finish the game for team India, to which he initially responded, “what is visualization,” but then went on to analyze the strategy of the bowlers so that he could play them.

(Inputs: indiawest.com)