THE LEGEND
The India-Bengladesh series which recently concluded seemed to be the playground of records as there was the creation of lots of records taking place in the series. Even Zaheer Khan got some batting record in the end along with Sachin Tendulkar’s 34th century. But I believe that the best record created was that by Anil Kumble becoming the highest wicket taker for India in test cricket.

There were lots of people who said that this man was not fit for playing cricket and he is not at all a spinner from any angle. Some of them even said that the time has come for him to retire especially when Javagal Srinath retired from International cricket. Even after taking so many wickets, I think that he hasn’t got that much recognition or respect that he has got so far.

Lots of criticisms had been following Kumble for a long time about his bowling as well as his fielding. But he has overcome all of them and managed to come back strongly shutting up the mouths of all critics. Now he stays fifth on the top wicket takers table under Warne, Muralitharan, Walsh and McGrath, 444 being the current figure.

THE SILENT ASASSIN
Silent Asassin - that is the name of a computer game in which stealth is important. Same is the case with Anil Kumble. He gets wickets whenever necessary without the sharp turns like Muralitharan and Warne. His bowling seemed to have got more pace than spin on several occasions, but that was never a problem.

He may be the bowling the quickest among the leading spinners among the world and what he has managed to do is getting wickets of the batsmen playing on the back foot while the other spinners get more wickets by making the batsmen play on the front foot. This makes Kumble a different force among the world of spinners.

Lots of people have said that he hasn’t performed well enough outside the country. But in some of the recent series, he has managed to bag a number of wickets thus proving his class yet again. But there have been a number of occasions in which his great performances were shadowed by some big innings by batsmen which is quite usual these days.

THE GLADIATOR
Anil Kumble had been serving the team for a long time, but he haven’t had a good support from the other end. But now, with Harbhajan Singh in full flow and possible help from Murai Karthik, Kumble is expected to put more pressure on the batsmen from now on. But the true fact is tha he has proved himself as one of the best spinners of all times by now.

There has not been a single occasion when Kumble has given up fighting. Right from his first wicket of Allan Lamb till his last one of Mohammed Ashraful, he has had maximum ups and downs in his career, but he has always shown his capability to come back strongly. Not to forget the occasion when he got ten wickets against Pakistan!

But I still wonder why he is missing the hype that the other bowlers like Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and even Irfan Pathan has. If they can have this much hype after a shorter list of achievements, how much does Kumble deserve? This is something to be thought about seriously.

BACK TO THE FUTURE
Anil Kumble really was a useful batsman in the past. It seems that he hasn’t given any importance to his batting these days as he gets out playing poor strokes. He has given valuable contributions with the bat in the early stages of his career. I think that he is a better batsman than his records show.

He just needs to concentrate a bit more on batting just like he does on the bowling department. He surely has got some skill there too. Another problem is about his fielding. On some occasions, he can be a bit sloppy on the field. But he has managed to improve a bit with some occasional dives on the field.

It is not fair to compare two players of different era and different styles of bowling. But the fact is that Kumble achieved 434 wickets in less number of matches, giving away less runs with a better average ad economy rate. Not to forget the number of ten wicket and five wicket hauls. The fact is that Kumble still got what it takes to be in the Indian team and may become the first Indian bowler to reach 500 wickets in test cricket!

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Saurav Ganguly