Goodbye Jumbo!!!
When I wrote "600 and more...", i had no clue that we would be bidding adios to Jumbo so soon.
On hearing of his retirement, I was thrown back some 7 years back, when I witnessed his ripping his 400th wicket in Bangalore and you could hear chants of "Jumbo....Jumb0....Jumbo..." miles from Chinnaswami. I have never seen a player underplaying such an astounding achievement with such humility...but that was typically him.
18 years is helluava time in international cricket and 619 is a staggering figure. I am happy that he has so wisely chosen his time to bid good bye, it was so frustrating to see him groping for rythym on field.
Though I would still not rate him as the best spinner of any era, he is nowhere close to magical Warney or mysterious Murli, his armory was very ordinary when compare to that of these to sorcerers. And i believe that I would not bet on any player, with such moderate talent, to knock off 619 timbers. And thats why Anil was so special, his perseverance and hard work made him outnumber this talent. Over the years, cricket has witnessed several talents go wasted, promises belied and prodigies ending up as paupers....Anil kind of compensated for a few of them. If you break his talent into pieces and sum them up, i bet you wont even reach 500 wickets.
Most of us would remember Jumbo for Antigua test, where he bowled 14 overs with a broken jaw or Hero cup final where ripped through West Indies in no time. But my Magical "Anil Kumble" moment was when he got Andrew Symonds LBW in WACA, a 37 year old warhorse, who has his place so well sealed in bibles of the game, was jumping as if a rookie has just got his maiden wicket.
Hats of to this hunger, bow to this commitment, salute to this resolve and ladies and gentlemen for please stand for the final applause to the last torch bearers of "Gentleman's game".
Goodbye Jumbo.
On hearing of his retirement, I was thrown back some 7 years back, when I witnessed his ripping his 400th wicket in Bangalore and you could hear chants of "Jumbo....Jumb0....Jumbo..." miles from Chinnaswami. I have never seen a player underplaying such an astounding achievement with such humility...but that was typically him.
18 years is helluava time in international cricket and 619 is a staggering figure. I am happy that he has so wisely chosen his time to bid good bye, it was so frustrating to see him groping for rythym on field.
Though I would still not rate him as the best spinner of any era, he is nowhere close to magical Warney or mysterious Murli, his armory was very ordinary when compare to that of these to sorcerers. And i believe that I would not bet on any player, with such moderate talent, to knock off 619 timbers. And thats why Anil was so special, his perseverance and hard work made him outnumber this talent. Over the years, cricket has witnessed several talents go wasted, promises belied and prodigies ending up as paupers....Anil kind of compensated for a few of them. If you break his talent into pieces and sum them up, i bet you wont even reach 500 wickets.
Most of us would remember Jumbo for Antigua test, where he bowled 14 overs with a broken jaw or Hero cup final where ripped through West Indies in no time. But my Magical "Anil Kumble" moment was when he got Andrew Symonds LBW in WACA, a 37 year old warhorse, who has his place so well sealed in bibles of the game, was jumping as if a rookie has just got his maiden wicket.
Hats of to this hunger, bow to this commitment, salute to this resolve and ladies and gentlemen for please stand for the final applause to the last torch bearers of "Gentleman's game".
Goodbye Jumbo.
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