After nearly 15 years of watching him run back to his run up, skip, hop and fire some googlies, it’s finally time to bid adieu to Jumbo.

Easily one of the most humble as well as gritty players on the field, Anil Kumble never made his presence felt since he wasn’t the flamboyant kind. You would never see him lead any of the endorsements on TV, yet when it came to the field, he’d take charge and always deliver (pun intended).

Kumble was the studious kind. He was the checked shirt clad guy who would love devouring problems in your IIT-JEE class. It was simply impossible to hate him because he just put in so much effort into his work.

Never a huge turner of the ball, his biggest strength was line and length, deadly accurate. The number of times the batsmen missed and were bowled or caught leg before the wicket is simply difficult to count. And then there was the faster one. Kumble could easily pass off as a medium bowler. No wonder Nayan Mongia   (India’s then wicketkeeper) started wearing a helmet while keeping to his deliveries during the late nineties. The bounce he extracted was also one of his secret weapons. Very often would a batsman attempt to play a defense stroke and be caught off guard with one that come right at him, snicks the glove and falls into the hands of one of the nearby fielders.

If asked about the three greatest performances of Anil Kumble, I’ll list them as:

Firstly, his awesome spell in the finals of the Hero Cup. At the end of it, he came out with figures of 6/12 against the West India. Here he just tore through the West Indies middle order.

Then the 10 wicket haul against the Pakistani Team at the Ferozshah Kotla. There was a little controversy surrounding this performance, the reason being the first wicket of Shahid Afridi was not out. However, such is the game of cricket. It’s about capitalizing on the opportunities that come your way.

And of course thirdly, one of the most memorable photos to have ever been shown on Indian Television. A bandage clad Kumble jubilant after capturing the wicket of Lara.

This particular performance in the West Indies wasn’t really anything spectacular as far as the result of the game was concerned nor did it bother the statisticians much, but the amount of patriotism that it spread throughout the country was extraordinary. Kumble was suddenly a war hero.

Over the years, he just kept on picking up wickets here and there. Little did one realize that by the time the sun had set on his career, he had accumulated 619 of those.

His departure from international cricket couldn’t have been more fitting.

It was a very tough decision, especially when you have performed for 18 years and been so competitive,” he said at the presentation ceremony after the match had ended in a draw. But the body helped me make the decision. This injury also helped.

-Anil Kumble, Jumbo.

Thank you for the memories!

Crossposted