In An Era When Indian Batters Took Home All The Glory And Accolades, Anil Kumble Was The Champion Who Tirelessly Went About His Job

When we talk about the great Indian cricketers of the 1990s and 2000s it is the batters to whom we generally refer. The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh are names that keep popping up. But one man who does not get mentioned as much as he should is our tireless hero, Anil Kumble.

Tireless toil

Yes, in an era when the batsmen hogged all the limelight and glory, it was Kumble who was doing his job behind the scenes with the ball. As he got older, he became and even better bowler and in his later years, was just as deadly outside India as he was unplayable on home soil.

619 wickets in 132 Tests and 337 scalps in 271 ODIs in a career spanning 18 years. Now that is 956 international victims to his name and from 1990 to 2008 he was the man who carried our attack.

Be it his 10-wicket haul vs Pakistan in 1999, or his 8 wickets vs Australia in 2004, the man was always there when India needed him. Remember the epic 6/12 in Kolkata? What about the time he bowled with a broken jaw and got the wicket of Brian Lara. These just show his dedication to the game.

His career did not end in the way it should have. A hand injury forced him to call it quits midway through a Test vs Australia in 2008. Not the ending he would have dreamed of, but it in no way tarnishes his legacy.

Commitment

Even post-retirement he was a danger. In the 2009 IPL he took 5/5 for RCB to leave defending champions RR in tatters. Age after all, is just a number.

Kumble has proved handy with the bat too. He once won a game with the willow in 1996. In 2007 he also made a century vs England, the only Indian to score a hundred in that series, believe it or not.

Not a big turner of the ball, he was deceptive and could put a lot of pace on the ball. That's what made him lethal on turning tracks and also relatively flat surfaces.

He even led India in Tests after Dravid abruptly resigned. When he retired, MS Dhoni took over at the helm.

Loyal servant

Kumble has been a good servant to the game. The man right now is 3rd in the list for most Test wickets and has the most scalps by an Indian in international cricket right now. In a game dominated by batsmen, he was the bowler who stood out for us in crunch games. A true legend and we were fortunate that he served us for a long time. He battled injury, bad form and lack of consistency to always come back and deliver for Team India in crucial situations. A captain's dream, he ranks right up there with the best in the world. An all-time great and a true legend of the game.