Only one Test has lapsed in between that match and the Test against New Zealand here and Kumble was again celebrating. He had obliterated his idol Bhagwat Chandrashekhar's record and become India's highest wicket-taking leg spinner and also No. 3 in the overall Indian list. Only this time the celebrations were short and there was nobody watching.

Kumble himself sat in a corner of the dressing room, pondering over what went wrong in the Test here. He has long been India's match winner and his inability to slice through the Kiwibatting was an important factor for India not being able to wrap up the Test, even though the bowlers had as many as 135 overs to do the job on a wicket which had the normal wear and tear of the fourth and fifth days.

Kumble tried all he could. He bowled over the wicket and went around to bowl into the rough, bowled fastish as well as slow but without results. His flipper too didn't work. Overall, Kumble was short on confidence, normally his greatest ally. His picking up three wickets towards the fag end was a mere consolation. The Kiwis had tremendous respect for the leg spinner and worked on ways to counter him before coming here. Kiwi skipper Stephen Fleming confirmed: "Yes, we did a lot on that. We analysed his strengths and weaknesses and played him accordingly."

Little wonder, their batsmen were willing to shun the cut and pull shots and played Kumble more like a medium pacer, plonking their right foot forward each ball.

The market is flooded with so many questions: Has Kumble been sorted out?Does he have any more tricks up his sleeves for an encore? Or is it that Kumble is only a good bad-pitch bowler now? Skeptics have already started writing Kumble off. Remember, he was `dropped' from the one-day tourneys in Nairobi and Toronto also. Kumble himself would be a worried man and that is not a good sign for Indian cricket. There is a tour of Australia coming up and for India to make any impact, Kumble needs to rediscover his winning ways.

India made a terrible mistake of not relying on spinners on their last Australian tour in 1991-92. There was no off-spinner in the side while the leggie, Narendra Hirwani, was hardly used. The Australian wickets have the pace and bounce which make Kumble all the more deadly. But, before that, Kumble has to strike form in the next two Tests against New Zealand. His skipper Sachin Tendulkar realises this and has been trying to bolster Kumble's confidence. He showed more faith in Kumble in the Mohali Test though one felt that the left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi lookedto be the one capable of making a breakthrough.

Tendulkar, who had singled out Kumble and seamer Javagal Srinath as his frontline bowlers on the eve of the Test, maintained that "Kumble bowled well, but without luck... He was a better bowler... He will pick up wickets".Hopefully, Tendulkar's assessment might hold true. Though there is no news on the wickets being prepared for the Kanpur and Ahmedabad Tests, there is a possibility of turners being laid to facilitate the Indian strength, as also the Kiwi weakness. Hopefully, Kumble will pick up some wickets there and, hopefully, he will get the confidence he so badly needs. Yes, India needs Anil Kumble to smile again.