Adieu Jumbo!

"Rapped on the pads.... Huge shout for an LBW.... Up goes the finger.... That was plumb.... Caught right infront of the stumps... That was a flipper from Jumbo... "

What best an occasion can I think of for writing about the legend of Indian Cricket? Anil Krishnaswamy Kumble, nicknamed "Jumbo", a talent which was not a born gift but was cultivated with shear commitment and hard work. A talent which would have gone unnoticed, had his brother, Dinesh Kumble, not identified a cricketer in Anil. A mechanical engineering graduate from RVCE, was chosen to represent Indian cricket team for the tour of England, after gaining enormous amount of experience in his first class cricket. He made his debut on 9th August, 1990 against England.

Never graded as a leg-spinner, Anil made it a point that, he is something different from all other spinners. Being known for his flippers, faster ones, wrong ones, Anil had troubled many great batsmen in the world. 600 wickets in his test career, speaks more about Anil Kumble as a cricketer than himself. He is known for his gentlemen nature, commitment, hard work and a thirst to achieve more.

A memorable occasion for any Indian Cricket fan would be the match between India and Pakistan at Firozshah Kotla grounds, Delhi, in which he became the second bowler in the world after Jim Laker to get all 10 wickets in an innings in the test cricket history. What a moment that was for any cricketer for that matter.

I still remember a first class match in the year 1998 between Karnataka and Railways at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. Hardly any spectators around. I was sitting alone in the upper tier of the gallery. Railways were followed on and were in good shape to make Karnataka bat in their second innings and were all set for a tamed draw. Joshi and David Johnson were trying really hard to get a result out of the match. Anil Kumble was leading the Karnataka team at that time and decided to get himself onto the attack. What a magical spell that was! Took two wickets in an over and Karnataka were back on track and went onto win the match with an innings to spare.

There were many such occasions which I would love to recall again and again.. One of them was, fights with my sister. And the reason for that was Mr.Anil Kumble. It was silly, but is worth recalling... My sister is one ofthe great fans of Anil Kumble and I'm a fan of Rahul Dravid. I dont think of a day we both have never fought. We used to pull each others' legs and finally used to end up in a fight. There were days, when both used to do well, still we used to fight.... But the fact was I was also a great fan of Anil. I remember the match between in India and Australia, being played at Bangalore. I was holding a banner which read "Dont be happy kangaroos, beware of the Karnataka kali, Anil Kumble". I had written that banner a day before and had kept in my bag, so that my sister will not get to know about that.

Better late than never, Anil got a chance to lead the Indian test team. He showed what he was capable of and gave a strong reply to all the critics who had doubted on his game and his captaincy. Job well done Jumbo!! We miss you a lot!! We will be eager to see you back on the ground if not as a player atlest as a coach.