No bowler in India's history has won more Test matches than Anil Kumble, and there probably hasn't been a harder trier either. Unorthodox, he trades the legspinner's proverbial yo-yo for a spear, as the ball hacks through the air rather than hanging in it, then comes off the pitch with a kick rather than a kink. He does not beat the bat as much as hit the splice, but it's a method that has provided him with stunning success, particularly on Indian soil, where his deliveries burst like packets of water on the feeblest hint of a crack. He is resilient and untiring, and a big legbreak would have made him perfect, just like the ten-in-an-innings he took in a Test against Pakistan.
For most of his career Kumble struggled to make an impact outside India, but he turned that around magnificently in Australia in 2003-04, winkling out an incredible 24 wickets in three Test matches. Three months later, his 6 for 71 on a flat pitch at Multan helped India win a Test in Pakistan for the first time.
Kumble's batting average in Tests makes him something of a bowling allrounder, though in the one-day game his nervy running between the wickets has negated hindered him. He catches well, often at gully, though his movements were once described by a commentator as those of "a man on stilts".
In December 2001, on his home turf at Bangalore, Kumble became India's second bowler, and their first spinner, to take 300 Test wickets. A year later, almost to the day, he passed the same mark in one-dayers. Against Australia in 2004-05 he pushed the Test mark past 400 - also at Bangalore - then skittled the Aussies in the next Test at Chennai with a spell of 7 for 25. In March 2006, He became the first Indian bowler to reach 500 Test wickets, when he trapped Steve Harmison lbw in the Mohali Test.
Superstardom was to elude the low-profile Kumble throughout his career, but his deeds speak for themselves. |