Kumble: A hard act to follow
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
AFP
Anil Kumble was determined to leave behind a legacy for future cricketers and captains and the team Dhoni will lead starting from Nagpur owes Kumble for its unity, writes Kadambari Murali in the Hindustan Times. She also recounts a meeting with Kumble in his Bangalore home eight months ago.
Eight months ago, sitting under a lovely afternoon sun outside Kreeda, his elegant Bangalore bungalow, Anil Kumble casually said he didn’t think he would last out the year, career wise. “I’m hoping to make it to the Australian series this October,” he added, equally casually, “but it depends on my body”. That Bangalore day, he grinned as wife Chethana disapprovingly commented, “He needs to think about himself”. “She’s being a wife,” he quipped, smiling at the woman he dubbed his “support system” and “partner in everything”.
Harsha Bhogle, in his tribute in the Indian Express, says the the retirement announcement itself was typical of the man: no grandstanding, no ostentation, no farewell tour. Anything else would have jarred, it wouldn’t have been Kumble. He changed the perception of spin bowling, suggesting a variation from the established pillars of guile, spin and turn.
Bowling with a fractured jaw in Antigua was the most visible expression of his commitment. But it wasn’t unexpected. Sourav Ganguly once said that if the opposition was 250 for 1 and he was looking around the field, there was one man who was looking straight back at him because he wanted the ball.
In the Independent, Angus Fraser hopes Kumble is not lost to cricket and that the BCCI use him to get a better perspective of what is good for the future of the game.
Throughout Anil Kumble has retained his dignity, it has been an immense contribution, and he did not outstay his welcome by a single day. Even in his retirement he served the side and Indian cricket, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald.
He must have yearned for one last victory and, best of all, a series win against the Australians. It was not to be. Always something is left on the table. Cricket is like that, not exactly cruel but not sentimental either. Kumble worked hard in the first innings and must have been happy with his game. But 22 yards away it did not happen. The ball flatly refused to skip or skid or bounce or turn sharply. Instead, it meandered through, giving batsmen a precious second to adjust their strokes. Previously, Kumble only needed one victory for a wicket. He bowled straight, attacked the stumps and preyed upon error. Now opponents could escape his clutches.
Rarely has there been a sportsman who has combined flintiness and dignity so adeptly. He was hard, really hard, but utterly fair. Kumble forever walked the line, but rarely if ever crossed it, write Rob Smyth in the Guardian.
And so he went. Not at the end of the series, or the end of the year, but now, when the arguments for his going were only as strong as, not stronger than, those for his continuing—and that, perhaps more than anything he has done on the field in course of an extraordinarily distinguished 19-year career, sums up all there is to know about Kumble the human being, writes Prem Panicker on his blog Smoke Signals.
G Rajaraman has known Kumble from the time he was known as K Anil and played under-19 cricket for Karnataka. He offers a few snippets of a wonderful human being and a great friend in his column in Cricketnirvana.com.
In Daily News and Analysis, Dilip Vengsarkar salutes Kumble for his attitude and the fact that he ensured the game was played in true spirit, without crossing that fine line even once.
In the Deccan Chronicle, R Mohan says Kumble was too refined a person to think negatively of anyone.
Kanishkaa Balachandran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo