Okay!! I am extremely sorry about the title.. But I can’t think of anything else to express my anguish over exclusion of Anil Kumble in the ODI’s.. How can the selectors leave out the greatest spinner in the history of the game. Oh!! I see You are looking at the future!! Yes right..The Future!! Hello!! .When BCCI has virtually taken an oath to do things all the professional way , looking at the future stuff blah blah blah trying to copy the australians..Why can’t they be a little bit professional in selecting a team and play the inform anil kumble instead of Harbhajan..Its a situation similar to Australians wanting Shane Warne to come back.Infact the case here is that Anil himself wants to comeback to ODIs whereas Shane Warne dose not (or atleast he is not decided about it)..

For those who do not know or understand what I am talking about (Although I hope you do)

Full name     Anil Kumble
Born October 17, 1970, Bangalore, Karnataka
Current age   35 years 155 days
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Legbreak googly
Playing Side India
Test Debut    India v England, 1990
ODI Debut:    India v Sri Lanka, 1989/90

Some statistics:

class mat    balls     runs     wkts   bbm       ave      econ     sr   4      5    10
Tests 105   33133 14538   505    14/149   28.78   2.63    65.60   25   32    8
ODIs   264   14117 10122   329     6/12      30.76   4.30    42.90   8     2      0


The Bowler

He uses the bowl as a yo-yo foxing the batsmen with his unorthodox googly.Not much of a turner of the ball..He is completely capable of milching out a bouncy track.He is resilient and untiring, and a bigger legbreak would have made him perfect, just like the ten-in-an-innings he took in a Test against Pakistan. He got his nick-name ’’Jumbo’’ for his big heart.. We all remember his jaw problem and I say it requires a really big (shall I say jumbo sized) heart and to come from an injury and then take a wicket..There have been few in Test cricket who could match him in terms of determination, which was clearly seen downunder during the Australian tour. Anil Kumble has been a stalwart for Indian cricket.

Apart from taking wickets he has the capability to restrict any player from scoring runs which is mighty important if you are playing an ODI

I hear things such as Anil Kumble can bowl only on placid tracks which helps spinners and All such crap.. Well any spinner would like spinning placid tracks but something that marks out Kumble from the rest of his kind is his match winning ability.No bowler in India’s history has won more Test matches than Anil Kumble, and there probably hasn’t been a harder trier either.Had he not bowled as well as he did down under in 2004 Ganguly would not have had ’’the most successful Indian Captain’’ tag (Which as you all know came only in 2004.)

Another complain that I often hear is that he is not a good ODI player..Because in ODI’s we need a player who can do multiple things at a time ie. a combination of ’’batting and bowling’’ or ’’bowling and fielding’’..Let me tell those guys something ’’Kumble has better technique of batting than Dhoni does.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 might not be the best fielde in the world..But he catches well, often at gully, though his movements were once described by a commentator as those of ’’a man on stilts’’.

I think he is a total team-man.. Only four people truly deserve this tag and Anil Kumble is one of them the others might be Dravid, Kapil Dev and Robin Singh(Retired from international cricket)

Here is something for those those cynical persons who still do not admit that Anil Kumble does no deserve a place in the ODI team

74% of his
wickets
are top
order
batsmen in both the forms of the game..

Close to 850 wickets in both the forms of the game

Highest Wicket
taker in the 1996
World Cup

TEST
10-74 vs Pakistan
in FEROZSHAH KOTLA
NEW DELHI

Maximum caught and bowled in test matches (29)

’Anil and Munaf set the game up for us’ - Dravid after the second test against England..

Padma Shri - 2005

Arjuna Award - 1995-96

Wisden Cricketer of the Year - 1995

If still the Indian selectors cannot see the gem in Kumble and the amount of game left in him then all I can say is ’’The Poor Fools’’

Who is your favorite sports player in this field?

Dravid