Jumbo, adios!
Anil Kumble, the Jumbo in all sense is bidding farewell, deservedly but in his own inimitable style.
One wouldn’t expect him to hang on like many compatriots inspite of form ditching them, but one cudnt have imagined a better timing.
This Engineer by education proved to be more scientific than artistic as a spin bowler..there used to be jokes that his and Venkateshprasad’s roles were reversed;-)
None could have played cricket like chess as kumble very often demonstrated..set piece was a term used in soccer in the recent past but he is one guy who let it be used in cricket too! He really set the batsmen more with guile than spin wizardry. This astute bowler, when realized, he is struggling, just did one thing he always was noted for! being astute - in timing of his retirement too.
He is one guy who always stood for giving more than 100% . All those who struggled to get his wicket when the Indian batsmen would have been falling like 9 pins the other end would vouch for. For that matter did any of us think he would ever overtake kapil’s record! Such was his underplayed existence and style. But jumbo was jumbo in all achievements..yes, me included we would have cried at his failures, but none would have suspected his commitment. Even now, I was not gungho about his captaincy because it is 'template' oriented like Dravid, Tendul and all those typical old school Indian captains, but one cant suspect or hate him right?
There would be so many anecdotes that shall float but one I liked the most reflects jumbo’s attitude the best! After the aussies mauled us for 359 runs in the 2003 world cup finals, one can guess how the Indian dressing room would have been. Its then that jumbo apparently came up with his typical approach. It seems he said all that we need to do is score a boundary(4) off each over and then all they needed to do was take singles off the rest balls in every over. This way they would be left with some overs to spare! Post fact, with the knowledge of the grinding we got, it would sound ridiculous, but then, it was optimism unlimited! Which is what a team needs and if only the full team was as objective and filled with self belief as jumbo, that finals would have been different. Still, jumbo is jumbo! What say you?
One wouldn’t expect him to hang on like many compatriots inspite of form ditching them, but one cudnt have imagined a better timing.
This Engineer by education proved to be more scientific than artistic as a spin bowler..there used to be jokes that his and Venkateshprasad’s roles were reversed;-)
None could have played cricket like chess as kumble very often demonstrated..set piece was a term used in soccer in the recent past but he is one guy who let it be used in cricket too! He really set the batsmen more with guile than spin wizardry. This astute bowler, when realized, he is struggling, just did one thing he always was noted for! being astute - in timing of his retirement too.
He is one guy who always stood for giving more than 100% . All those who struggled to get his wicket when the Indian batsmen would have been falling like 9 pins the other end would vouch for. For that matter did any of us think he would ever overtake kapil’s record! Such was his underplayed existence and style. But jumbo was jumbo in all achievements..yes, me included we would have cried at his failures, but none would have suspected his commitment. Even now, I was not gungho about his captaincy because it is 'template' oriented like Dravid, Tendul and all those typical old school Indian captains, but one cant suspect or hate him right?
There would be so many anecdotes that shall float but one I liked the most reflects jumbo’s attitude the best! After the aussies mauled us for 359 runs in the 2003 world cup finals, one can guess how the Indian dressing room would have been. Its then that jumbo apparently came up with his typical approach. It seems he said all that we need to do is score a boundary(4) off each over and then all they needed to do was take singles off the rest balls in every over. This way they would be left with some overs to spare! Post fact, with the knowledge of the grinding we got, it would sound ridiculous, but then, it was optimism unlimited! Which is what a team needs and if only the full team was as objective and filled with self belief as jumbo, that finals would have been different. Still, jumbo is jumbo! What say you?
Labels: cricket
posted by Ananthoo @ 9:22 PM
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