Kumble spins to 500....

The title is slightly misleading in a way because Kumble has never spins the ball - not as much as what a spinner does. Neither does he bowl it with as much as a pace as does a medium pacer. Its somewhere in between which can very well be characterized as "Kumbles the ball". Well this isn't the first time that something in cricket in characterized by the person who first used it. We already have things like "Mankaded" because Vinoo Mankad did it first. So now we can name something after this genius. Atleast after he has taken a mammoth 500 plus wickets with his kind of a bowling. So thats an addition to the cricketing terms - spin, pace and Kumble.

Kumble does not possess any genuine spin in his armory. He does not have the classic leg break of a Warne or the Doosra of a Murali, but he has perfected the art of varying the pace and bounce of the ball which makes him deadly on the subcontinental pitches. That doesn't make him only a home tiger either. He proved such notions wrong by scalping 24 wicketes in 3 tests down under, after having been in the sidelines in the first test and getting a chance only when his contemporary Bajji got injured.

A qualified mechanical engineer, Kumble made it to the Karnataka state team and subsequently to the Indian team pretty quick. However, he was soon to be dropped. But Kumble the fighter never relaxed and he came back with a stunning performance in South Africa a couple of seasons later and has never looked back since.

When the Indian team was not in its golden days, Kumble was by far the potent weapon that India had. Ripping through batting line up he was for a long time and still is a match winner for India. What really makes him a hero is the amount of hard work that he puts into his game and by his own admission tries to get a wicket every ball. Thats the kind of commitment you expect from every member in the team. But even with all his performances, he is not a hero in a country where people are more crazy after batsman. Probably Dhoni having a lot more fan following than this hero goes a long way in proving a fact that people look towards cricketers as entertainers and not as match winners in the true spirit of the game.

Nevertheless, things have not been a smooth ride for Kumble. Often for some strange reasons, better known only to the agressive and not so aggressive skippers of India, Kumble is the first choice for being axed out of the team. But the fighter has always proved himself making it tougher for the skipper to take a call. More often than not, Kumble finds a place in the team purely out of his performances in the previous match. Something that even the big stars around the globe fail to match.

Its quite a pity that someone who has more than 350 wickets in the shorter form of the game is made to sit out on the grounds of playing more agile youngsters. I probably think not playing Kumble was one of the prime factors for India loosing the world cup finals. Beyond any doubt, no other team will dare do such a thing, especially when he is part of the 15 member squad. I guess its imperative that the Indian think tank begins to think of playing genuine bowlers who can take wickets or curtail the run flow in the middle overs.

Kumble has amazed the cricketing world with quite a few stunning performances. His 6/12 which sealed the victory for India in the Hero Cup, his perfect ten which won the test against Pakistan which had the deadly duo of Wasim and Waqar, his exploits at Adelaide which won a test for India down under after a long time are some to name. Having offered so much to Indian cricket and having been the backbone of the Indian attack for well over a decade and a half I am sure the Indians are going to have a tough time having to replace someone like Kumble.