Indian spin wizard Anil Kumble turns 46, indomitable spirit remains alive

Indian spin wizard, Anil Kumble celebrates his 46th birthday on October 17. Anil is considered one of the greatest leg spinners to have ever played the game. In his glittering career which spanned almost two decades, Kumble went onto become the leading wicket taker for India in Tests. The ace leg spinner took over as the coach of the Indian team in 2016.

Anil Kumble was India’s greatest match winner with the ball. The Karnataka leggie wasn’t a big turner of the ball but had subtle variations up his sleeve to bamboozle the best of batsman. Kumble bowled his flippers at the brisk pace which hurried onto the batsman.

Kumble was born on 17 October 1970 in Bengaluru, Karnataka to Krishna Swamy and Saroja. Kumble has a brother named Dinesh Kumble. He is married to Chethana Kumble.

Kumble completed his formative education in Bengaluru and passed out with an engineering degree in mechanical engineering from Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering in 1991–92.

After a couple of fruitful seasons for Karnataka in Ranji Trophy, Kumble was picked in the Test team and made his test debut on 9 August against England.

Kumble made his first impression in the ODI arena after running through the West Indies batting order in the finals of the 1993 Hero Cup. Kumble proved his forte in the 1996 World Cup held in the subcontinent by becoming the leading wicket-taker.

He earned the nicknamed "Jumbo" not only because his quickish deliveries for a spinner, but also because his feet were rather quite big or "Jumbo" as observed by his team-mates.

Kumble's greatest moment under the sun in Test cricket was him scalping 10 wickets against arch rivals Pakistan at Feroz Shah Kotla Delhi. This astonishing feat made him only the second cricketer after English spinner Jim Laker in test history to have achieved this milestone. 

Kumble used the googly as a deceptive weapon to outfox top class batsmen. Kumble was India’s strike weapon on spin friendly home conditions as he ran through batting lineups of visiting sides on a consistent basis. A good reader of the game, Kumble was second in command to Ganguly for most of that era. In a nutshell, Anil was a very competitive cricketer who played the game with full commitment and passion.

After having played for 18 years, he announced his retirement from international cricket in November 2008. In February 2015, he became the fourth Indian cricketer to be inducted into ICC Hall of Fame for his outstanding contribution to international cricket. In 2016, the BCCI appointed Anil Kumble as the head coach of the Indian team.