For 18 years Anil Kumble, the present Indian cricket captain, has been almost the lone warrior for India.
Though the trinity of Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, hogged all the limelight in the 90s. The truth is that the bespectacled Kannadiga has played the most vital role in securing dozens of victories, especially in the Tests.
Without Kumble India could never have got the opposition teams bowled out in two innings of a single test. This great spinner had arrived on the scene when the legendary Kapil Dev's career was in his twilight.
Pacers like Manoj Prabhakar spearheaded the Indian attack. There was no penetrative frontline speedster. And the age of the Spin Quatret of Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapallai Prasanna, Chandrashekhar and Venkataraghvan had become a forgotten story.
But this unusual leg-spinner who had little variation began to weave magic on the opposition batsmen. Through out the nineties, almost all Indian test wins under Mohammad Azharuddin were courtesy Anil Kumble, who inspired the other spinners like Venkatapathy Raju and Rajesh Chouhan, and later Harbhajan Singh, made every visiting team fear the Indian team.
Along with Shane Warne and Murlitharan, Anil Kumble complets the great trio of spinners, a new golden age, in world cricket, the kind of which was never seen after the 60s.
The 37 year old Jumbo has his place secured in cricket history for attaining such milestones and winning most test matches for India with his bowl. His simplicity is a lesson for cricketers of today's generation.
In 1999, he had taken all 10 wickets in an innings against Pakistan in Delhi test. He also has a century to his name in international test cricket. His graceful conduct during the recent controversy involving Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds, has earned me enormous respect.
If India wins the Perth Test, it will add another feather to his cap. He still has a couple years of cricket left in him. The Bangalore born Kumble is a thinking man, who is among the rare present day cricketers who have ensured that Cricket still remains the gentleman's game.
We salute Anil Kumble for his contribution to India and world cricket.
Celebrating the spirit of multi-cultural India: Indian website focusing on politics, sports, culture, religion and society.
Thursday 17 January 2008
Popular Posts
-
The photograph on the left shows an idol of Lord Ganesha, which is installed on a road side in Hyderabad, during the ongoing Ganesh Chaturth...
-
At last, somebody* had the guts to say it to Bal Thackeray, the cartoonist-turn-politician of Maharashtra who feels that Mumbai is his fiefd...
-
For 18 years Anil Kumble , the present Indian cricket captain, has been almost the lone warrior for India. Though the trinity of Tendulkar ...
-
The voices in support of Narendra Modi have clearly grown louder in recent times. But the top traders' (err...businessmen) declara...
-
New media is transforming journalism in a big way in India. Gone are the days when broadsheet newspapers were the sole carrier of news...
-
The lynching of a man in Dimapur in Nagaland shows that a section of people in North East--Assam and its surrounding seven states, also s...
-
What's wrong with the Ashrams of Sant Asaram Bapu? First, two cousins died in mysterious circumstances in Ahmedabad, an incident that br...
-
Shoes have been thrown publicly at three politicians in the country in recent days. A serving Home Minister, a former Union Home Minister an...
-
The flowers are raining outside the Eidgah. The beauty of this picture lies in the fact that Sikh boys are welcoming the Muslims coming out ...
-
Contrary to expectations, Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) failed to emerge as leading party in Pakistan. As results of...