Jumbo - Cricket’s Cinderella Man

By the time I complete this post, the news of Kumble’s retirement would be there out as a headlines of all the newspaper. I have been one of those very few Kumble fanatics for a long time. He has been man of many interesting points such as stoic warrior, devoted son, gentle father, enthusiastic photographer, demanding team-mate and committed friend. He had his own limitations of spinning the ball less than other but he could cover-up all of those with his commitment on the fields.

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The spirit was willing but the flesh was 38 years old.

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He is the only player to have picked up more than 600 wickets, made a century and also to have captained his side. His stats prove that he also has been one of India’s greatest match winners. He is only the second person after Jim Laker to pick up 10 wickets in an innings, a feat he achieved at Kotla in Delhi against Pakistan.

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He played in the times of other two spinning legends, Shane Warne and Muthiah Muralitharan. The uniqueness of this iron-willed spinner lies in the fact that those 600+ wickets he picked will be attributed to his character rather than his skill. Kumble was not blessed with an inborn genius of the kind that enabled Shane Warne or Muthiah Muralitharan to become a bowler of far more mesmerizing quality. He could never bowl deliveries which could defy the laws of physics like the other two. What makes Kumble special is that he has always tried hard to extract the maximum from limited natural ability. The Indian Test captain has earned his iconic status by consistently demonstrating the power of the mind.
Probably, I feel his best contributions for the game and Indian cricket can not be quantified in terms of cardinal numbers. He displayed his commitment towards the country when he bowled with a broken jaw and a bandage around it in West Indies for the cause of Team. No body could have thought he will come to bowl after being hit by a bouncer and a fracture that followed the hit. He bowled 14 overs at trot and claimed the wicket of Brian Lara. This incident was described as "It was one of the bravest things I've seen on the field of play" by Viv Richards.

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He was handed over captaincy at the age of 37, when nobody in the team including Sachin was ready to take up this onerous task of leading the team. He took up the challenge and led the team by setting example. Even before he took over as the captain of the team, he knew that it was a stop-gap arrangement before Dhoni matures as a captain and takes over the mantle as a test skipper. He was leading a side with 3 ex-captains and the current ODI captain.

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The greatest test of his character came when India lost the Boxing Day test match at Adelaide in 2007. Indians had to pay a price of string of bad umpiring decisions. It was followed by the Harbhajan-Symonds scandal and Harbhajan’s ban as a result of referee’s ruling. During this crisis, Kumble had applied his mental strength for the cause of team and country. His willingness to lead from the front in the face of adversity was on display in the fortnight following the defeat at Sydney. There was a sense of a touch of hype in the Harbhajan-Symonds and he used this opportunity to speak out against the Aussie hyper-gamesmanship. The Indian captain was the man for the occasion since he had built his integrity and this won the respect from all professional cricketers. Kumble’s role in resuscitating the spirit of the game was as commendable when he lead his team to victory at Perth, WACA. Dhoni successful captaincy style which hinges on cohesiveness of the entire team was built solely by Kumble after the Sydney fiasco.
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At a time when value systems and sportsmanship were on decline, he set standards and made good contribution. India might produce spinners who can turn their deliveries more than Kumble, but to reciprocate the commitment he displayed will be impossible. And the cricketing arena might have parted with the greatest sportsman who tried playing the gentlemen’s game, the way it should be.