Anil Kumble feels that T20 is a format for youngsters but for them to shine, the guidance of senior pros is imperative.

Retired players like Mathhew Hayden, Adam Gilchirst, Shane Warne, and Kumble himself were at par with the youngsters, doing extremely well in IPL season-II.

Hayden grabbed the Orange Cap for scoring highest runs, Gilchirst won the Player of the Tournament award and Kumble ended second highest wicket-taker with 21 victims.

Kumble, who led underdogs Bangalore to the IPL summit clash, believes that presence of senior players only help the youngsters perform better.

"It is a young man's game yeah it is you need to be fit, you need to be really athletic but you have six or seven guys who are like that I think the senior and the experiences guys will take the pressure and use their skills to ensure that we handle the situation pretty well.

"In that sense if you look back the retired guys and also the senior professionals have done really well in the tournament," he said.

Champions League calling

Kumble is enjoying playing the shortest format of the game and has already started thinking about the Champions League, slated for October.

"Definitely, you will see me three months from now in the Champions League. I was thinking that I will start training in January February for the next IPL but I will have to keep myself fit for October," he said.

"When captaincy came after Kevin has to go back that was a challenge for me and it really helped my game and gave me a new challenge and a new dimension to handle the team with various internationals there and you know it was different.

"Twenty20 is a different game because it is really fast paced. I thought I did pretty well. Personally it was very good but from team's perspective it was brilliant. It would have been nice if we would have won today. But I think credit to the way we played right through the tournament," Kumble said.

A Test team's turn-around

Bangalore, the team that was laughed off as a bunch of Test cricketers in the inaugural edition did remarkably well this season.

On being asked what turned around the things for them, he said, "Not rocket science really. It is just that you try and encourage everyone to go out there and enjoy. It is a Twenty20 game and you need to back yourself and probably may be really brave and back yourself.

"So, we played really bravely and encouraged everyone to go out there and enjoy. It is exactly what we have tried to do in the last three or four weeks. And everyone responded really well. We reached the final."

Kumble did not forget to mention about the contribution made by coach Ray Jennings in team's stupendous show. "He has brought a lot of experience of South Africa. The boys have rallied around him. I would also like to thank the coaching staff. We had a good bunch and we worked really hard," he said.