Jumbo decides to land

The flawless star of Indian cricket calls it a day without much ado, the same way he has been taking countless wickets his entire career. As cricket lovers from all over the world deal with the shock of his sudden retirement and shower praises on him, Anil Kumble can be proud to look back on the 18 years of unheeded yet selfless service to the nation and sport, for being the perfect cricketer in many ways in these days of ugliness which has crept in our most loved sport.

Only some of us can sparsely remember the bespectacled 20 year old taking his first wicket of his then unknown career as an Indian spinner against England at Manchester in 1990, inducing an edge from the bat of Alan Lamb. As the world gasped to notice a dazzling Sachin Tendulkar in that decade, this man kept on silently taking bucketful of wickets. He became the fastest Indian then to take 50 wickets in just 10 Test matches, and the second fastest to reach 100 wickets in just 21 matches. On 27 November 1993, he took 6 wickets for 12 runs in an ODI to blow away the Windies at Eden Gardens , a new record for the best bowling figures by an Indian, one that remains unbeaten till date.

Against Pakistan in 1999, he bamboozled the Pakistani batsmen at the Kotla, which has been his happy hunting ground, taking 10 wickets in the fourth innings to win India the game, thereby becoming the second bowler in Test cricket history to achieve the feat. At the start of the 21st Century, he underwent a career threatening shoulder surgery, but still never paused. Like a dentist armed with a drill, he kept on probing at the best of batsmen. Once he had a victim on his chair, nothing escaped his attention.

His dedication for the game, the team and for the nation came to the fore during the Antigua Test in 2002, in which he arrived to bowl with a bandaged face after he had fractured his jaw. The most hard-working student of the game, as a spinner Kumble was India ’s best bet and his service was taken for granted. Yet he did not complain. Only about a year ago, when Dravid stepped down as the captain, he was widely perceived to have been offered captaincy only for holding the fort till successful glamour boy Dhoni was seen as able. However, the Bangalorean took it as an opportunity to develop Indian cricket for making it the numero uno in World cricket, when in November last year he presented three-page note to his mates, a stated vision that he believed could serve as guidelines for future generation of cricketers.

During the tour Down Under last year, which he has claimed to be the toughest, he reached 600 wickets, the third bowler in the World to do so, which was perhaps the final feather on his cap.

One of the most selfless and dedicated sons of the game, he has dealt with his entire career in an amazingly matured and professional manner. He was never the poster boy of Indian cricket, and has never got appropriate recognition for his performances and service. But that has not bothered him, and it tells immensely of the type of personality that he is. To many, he is one of the greatest cricketers in the World not just because of his records, but because of his spotless character and dignified persona. He will be sorely missed.