India’s bowling legend Anil Kumble, who turned 53 today (October 17), entertained viewers with anecdotes from his playing career while doing commentary on live broadcast during day two of the first Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru.
Kumble, who hails from Karnataka and took 619 wickets in 132 Tests before retiring in January 2012, was talking about how playing on home ground eases a player’s nerves.
On that note, the legendary leg-spinner recalled an incident from December 2001 where he was bowling to Anil Kumble in the nets before a Test match against England in Bengaluru.
“I was at 299 wickets and on the verge of reaching a milestone on my home ground,” said Kumble. “A day before the match, I was bowling to Sachin Tendulkar in the nets. We generally don’t go to pick up the ball until the other bowler has delivered, but somehow I went in after Sachin had played a shot off my lasts delivery.”
What happened next almost knocked Kumble out of the Test match.
“While I was picking up the ball, Harbhajan (Singh) had bowled a delivery to Sachin, which he drove fiercely and the shot ended up hitting me smack in the ribs. Sachin was like ‘yeh maine kya kar diya, iska to home ground hai, iska 300 to gaya (what have I done; it’s his home ground, his 300th wicket is surely gone now),” narrated Kumble.
“Luckily, nothing happened. I played the match and went on to complete my 300 wickets at my home venue (M Chinnaswamy Stadium).” Kumble became the first Indian spinner to take 300 Test wickets.
Besides the 619 wickets in the red-ball format that the former India skipper and coach ended up with, he also claimed 337 wickets in 271 ODIs.
One of the many milestones Kumble crossed during his career was taking all 10 wickets in a Test innings against Pakistan in 1999.
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