Little differences can mean a lot. When Anil Kumble was first chosen for the Indian team — 18 years ago, longer than anyone still in international cricket bar one, before 40 per cent of India’s population was even born — few thought the tiny deviation he gave the ball would be even slightly effective. Kumble maintained, then and now, that you didn’t need to turn it a lot; you just needed to turn it enough to take the edge. Just a little difference, time after time, gave him 619 Test wickets; doing just that little bit more, over and over, might do the same for us.

Grit pays off. Think of the image of Anil Kumble bottling up one end for his captain on an unfriendly pitch; curbing his natural instincts, setting defensive fields, but giving each ball the same murderous attention. Think of him striding out at number nine in the order, holding out long enough to help his team to a win: think Sabina Park in 2006 with Dravid, at Ahmedabad in 1996 with Laxman. Think of him coming out to bowl with that bandage; of him straining every nerve to win the 2004 Sydney Test as that other icon of grit, Steve Waugh, battled to keep him out. Determination, regardless of circumstances, gave him 619 Test wickets and a Test century; determination will see us through.

These are things we believe, and these are the reasons why Kumble connects with us. He shone even as he lived in the age of Warne and Murali. Taking more than a third of wickets in Indian wins, he was India’s premier matchwinner, even as he played on a team with Dravid and Tendulkar. On Sunday, in the intimate, familiar surroundings of Ferozeshah Kotla, on a day with a bit more sun and a lot less turn than the day of his greatest triumph eight seasons ago, he occupied the spotlight again. Anil Kumble has always taught us a thing or two about courage under fire, grace under pressure. This month, when he put his team’s chances first yet again, when he chose to quietly underplay his retirement, he set again, perhaps for the last time, the finest of examples.