Anil Kumble: The gentle giant of cricket

Vaibhav Arora

There are sportsmen who are gifted and others who become great by their tireless hard work and determination. Born on 17th October 1970, Anil Radhakrishnan Kumble is one such bowler who has achieved the realms of greatness to accomplish what no other bowler in India’s cricket history had done before. To prove your detractors wrong and do it consistently over the years is what makes one stand apart from the ordinary. Since he first emerged on to the scene as a 19 year old at Manchester against England in 1990, Kumble has had to face the abuse of critics who labeled him as a regular and someone who could not turn the ball much, missing not even the slightest chance to take a dig at him whenever the country fared poorly. But the courageous bowler chose to answer his critics through his performance and bounced back like a phoenix everytime someone made the mistake of writing him off. Thanks to its turning wickets, India has always been known to produce quality spinners, from the lethal quartet of Prasanna, Bedi, Chandrashekhar and Venkataraghavan to Kumble and the ‘Turbunator’ Harbhajan Singh. Though not a big turner of the ball as some of the other names in the elite club, what makes Kumble perhaps the best of the lot is the workhorse quality and a never say die attitude. Besides the determination, Kumble is also known for his on-field aggression that is generally not associated with spinners. His ability to raise the morale of the team especially when the chips are down played a pivotal role in some of the team’s notable performances. Who can forget the 2002 Test against West Indies at Antigua where Kumble came out to bowl with a broken jaw and heavily bandaged around the face or more recently the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Bangalore where after suffering a shoulder injury he came back to bowl just hours later, leaving everyone awe struck. Patience and perseverance are two of the most important elements for a spinner’s success and imbibed a plenty in Kumble’s character. The start of his magnificent career was not as great and the lanky bowler had to wait almost two years for the turning point, which came at the Test match against South Africa at Johannesburg where he picked up 8 wickets. Kumble never looked back thereafter and went on to achieve greater heights. His perfect Ten against Pakistan at the Feroze Shah Kotla in 1999 will always be looked at by fans and historians as perhaps one of the greatest bowling performances in the history of Test cricket. From the English to the Aussies, all tried to play mindgames and distract the resilient bowler by dubbing him as a medium pacer but soon faced the consequences as Kumble came back even more aggressively. His series turning 24 wickets in 3 Tests during India’s tour of Australia in 2003 played a pivotal role in the visitors leveling the series. Kumble has broken numerous records in his nearly two decades long uncelebrated career. In 2001, he became the first Indian spinner to capture 300 wickets in Tests while went on to achieve the landmark in one-day cricket just a year later. Earlier this year, Kumble became the first Indian bowler and only the third in the world behind Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne to take 600 wickets in Test matches. The icing on the cake came at The Oval as he put together a well crafted century, a feat which he later described as one of the most cherished moments of his life. Captain Courageous Displaying his keenness to accept challenges and bravely face adverse situations, Kumble accepted the tough job of becoming India’s Test captain after Rahul Dravid decided to step down and Indian cricket was going through a rough patch. Though the job came a little late according to some, Kumble displayed his leadership instantly as he led India to a historic home series win against arch rivals Pakistan, the first for India in 27 years. Soon after, the team left for Australia for a Test series which turned out to be infamously remembered more for controversies than cricket. Kumble displayed immense maturity in handling the potboiler situation that could have easily broiled into a major controversy and made a permanent scar on the cricketing ties of the two nations. The landmarks were sure to come. However what matters more is the spirit in which the game is played and no one can question Kumble on that front. Let’s salute this ‘gentleman’ of cricket.