Anil Kumble, The Unorthodox Spinner

With roots in Kumbla, a small town near Kasaragod, Kerala; Anil Kumble has risen to international fame through his extraordinary skills as a bowler. Born in Bangalore on 17th October, 1970, Kumble has been known to play cricket on the streets of the city during his early years.

Anil Kumble ; Image Source: Cricket Country

‘One thing I will ensure is that whether we win or lose, the fighting spirit should always be there’. This quote said by him before one of his matches perfectly portrays his character as someone who knows and believes in the magic of hard work and fighting spirit.

Nicknamed as ‘Jumbo’, partly due to his fast deliveries and partly due to the size of his feet (as observed by his fellow players), Kumble is known for his 619 test wickets.

His early career started in 1989, with the selection in India’s Under-19 team where he played against Pakistan. Cricket analysts believe that after playing in Under-19 team, Kumble did not have a promising start in the Indian Cricket Team. He made his ODI debut in the Australasia Cup of 1990 and test debut in the same year when India played against England for a three-test series. However, it was only after 2 years that he was given the chance of playing in a test match again, it was the Irani Trophy Season of 1992.

His prominence as an exceptional bowler and spinner was established in the Indian tour of South Africa held in 1992. In the series of four tests, he took 18 wickets in total, 8 only in the second test.

One of the highlights of his career has been the second test match against Pakistan in the year of 1999. In the test innings, Kumble had taken all the ten wickets for 74 run and he one of the three bowlers to have achieved this feat.

He is known to challenge his opponents through subtle variations in his bowling style, some of them being back-spinning flipper and his custom googly delivery. Over the years he also added other styles to his already existing quiver of deliveries such as double-bluff slider and flat yorkers. Due to his unmatchable bowling and wicketkeeping skills along with a good hand in batting, he was appointed as the captain of the Indian Test cricket team on 8th November 2007.

In 2008, Kumble went through a period of slack when India toured in Sri Lanka and in the subsequent home series against Australia in October. Later, on 2nd November 2008, he announced his retirement from international test cricket, first-class cricket, and list A cricket in Feroz Shah Kotla cricket stadium, New Delhi.

After his retirement, he was part of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League but he announced his retirement from all forms of game ahead of 2011 IPL auctions. Few other important roles that he has served as is the chairman of ICC Committee and coach of Indian cricket team in the year of 2016-2017.

He has bowled 40850 balls in his entire test career which is the second highest after Muralitharan. Considered as one of the pillars of Indian Cricket Team, Kumble has inspired a generation of people to dream big and have always conveyed the importance of persistence and hard work for achieving those dreams.