Kumble, and the art of leg-spin

A man shrieked in excitement and looked back at the umpire who slowly started raising his finger. Then he shrieked louder. The scoreboard read: Andrew Symonds c Dravid b Kumble 66. The record books read: 600 wickets for Anil Kumble.

“You don’t think of such a landmark when you start, but it is a big number. I never dreamt of reaching here. Not many people thought I would be able to, but I knew I was capable of it,” he smiles.

The leg-spinner knew it was coming at this very ground —- at the Mecca of fast bowling. He got his milestone with a perfect leg-break with the 28th delivery in this Australian innings, subtly showcasing his status. Bowling from the Lillee-Marsh stand end, Kumble remembered his own little combination too: Dravid has held 54 catches off Kumble, twice as many as Laxman and Azhar. As fate would have it, today too, the ball ballooned off Dhoni’s gloves and right into Dravid’s safe hands.

“It’s an irony that Rahul had the take the catch, he’s probably taken the most catches off my bowling,” said Kumble.

The sun was glaring throughout the day, the focus firmly on the Indian faster bowlers, but Kumble surely hogged the limelight. And the crowd, witness to their own champion leg-spinner (with that same thumbs-up sign of acknowledgment like Kumble’s today), gave just the same appreciation.

So did Adam Gilchrist, who we often heard chanting ‘bowling, Shaanne’ and walk up for a handshake after every dismissal. Gilchrist, the non-striker then, shook Kumble’s hand and congratulated him and later in the dressing room too.

“I remember, Gilly was in Bangladesh when he called me to say ‘hi, this is Adam speaking from Bangladesh, congratulations on your 500. Gilchrist is a genuine guy and I just joked with him today that I preferred him as my 600th victim,” Kumble laughed.

In the Indian dressing room everybody gave a standing ovation. Harbhajan Singh took a huge bow. Kumble was firmly with Harbhajan in his hour of crisis, and the off-spinner was only too excited to be part of Kumble’s celebration.

... contd.