The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : A long innings comes to an end

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Saturday, Mar 31, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

A long innings comes to an end

Kalyan Ashok

TIME TO UNWIND: The spin wizard who bagged 337 wickets in 271 ODIs

BANGALORE: The quintessential team man of Indian cricket walked into the sunset of his one-day career. Yes, Anil Kumble's long journey, which began with his debut against Sri Lanka on April 25, 1990 in Sharjah, finally ended as the legendary 36-year-old leg spinner from Bangalore, bade goodbye to the shorter version of the game on the Karnataka State Cricket Association premises here on Friday.

As Kumble observed, "It would have been really nice if I had gone on a high note which I had hoped at the outset of the World Cup, unfortunately the fairytale ending did not happen, at least I hope that will be the case when I leave the Test cricket arena."

Looking smart and poised in his Indian blazer, Kumble walked down the memory lane recalling his memorable deeds on the field in one-dayers which included a dream haul of six for 12 in the Hero Cup final and receiving the "Man of the Match" award at Headingley from Geoff Boycott. He thanked his teammates, coaches and his parents and wife for their unstinting support that they had extended to him in his career. "Hopefully, I will continue playing Test cricket as long as I am able to perform my best," he said.

Cricket is a sport and for Indians it is more than a sport, and Kumble made no apologies for the Indian show in the World Cup. "Eighty per cent of the team that had played the 2003 World Cup was very much there and we had one of the best possible combination and we had a great start in the warm up games and I genuinely believed that we would go a long way. The loss to Bangladesh had put enormous pressure on us when we played Sri Lanka and though bowlers did well to keep a 250 target, our batting did not live up to expectations," Kumble said.

He said on the whole, he had a wonderful experience playing in the one-dayers for India and leading India was some thing he would have cherished. Now that the one-day load is off his shoulders, Kumble hopes to spend a lot more quality time with his wife and family. "I owe it to them, whenever I was down, they had been with me." May be an autobiography is waiting to be penned somewhere down the line and he would love to devote a little more time to his hobby - photography.

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