Kumble will be missed very badly: Ex-stars
Posted on Nov 02, 2008 at 16:38 | Updated Nov 02, 2008 at 21:37
1 Comments
Mumbai: Former Indian Test stars, including Javagal Srinath and Erapalli Prasanna, paying rich tributes to Indian Test captain Anil Kumble, who announced his retirement on Sunday, said the Indian team will miss him badly during their future conquests.
"It is quite difficult to digest that he has decided to quit international cricket. His has been an illustrious career spanning almost 20 years and his absence will be a big void in the Indian team to fill as he has set high standards. His transformation from a fast bowler to a world class spinner itself has been like a fairytale," Srinath told Cricketnext.com on Sunday.
"I have played lot of cricket with him for both India and the Karnataka team and he has always been an intense cricketer, who always liked new challenges. He also showed that he was a great leader of men despite getting the chance to lead the country a bit too late in his career. Despite there being many young leg spinners around, it will be very hard to replace him and emulate his feat of taking over 1000 international (both in Tests and ODIs) wickets," he added.
"Probably his personality can be summed up as a courageous and big hearted cricketer and the nick name Jumbo (huge) fitted him perfectly as whatever he did, he did it with a big heart. He also never flinched from speaking his mind out on any platform. I wish him good luck in his future life, which I am sure will be as successful as he was playing cricket," Srinath said.
Former off-spinning legend Prasanna said that the injury to his fingers, which needed eleven stitches, must have prompted him to call it a day.
"I think the injury to his fingers must have prompted him to take this drastic step as he was sure of missing the fourth and final Test match at Nagpur starting on November six. He always put the team ahead of his personal quest and has been a real team man with a big heart and has never flinched from giving his best," Prasanna said.
"His achievement of taking ten wickets in a Test innings, only the second to do so, is something which will be hard to beat so are those (over 1000) international wickets he has under his belt. The Indian team will surely miss his services during their future campaigns.
"As India’s number one spinner, he has been a real inspiration to the youngsters and I am sure every aspiring cricketer would try to emulate his lion-hearted bowling," he observed.
"For me, the picture of him bowling with a broken jaw in the West Indies, will always linger in my memory as it shows the character of the player, who believed that if you have the will, you can do the impossible, whatever the situation may be," he added.
Former Indian wicketkeeper Chandrakant Pandit, who too has watched Kumble’s career quite closely said he was shocked about Kumble’s decision though he expected it to happen in the near future.
"I think he still had a little more cricket left in him but if you go through his records you can see that he always gave 100 per cent to the team be it bowling, batting or fielding close to the wicket. To me his maiden century against England stands out while he was arguably the best leg spinner in this part of the world," Pandit said.
"The Indian team will surely miss his presence in the dressing room as he always had a word of advice to any upcoming youngster. He was one of the most intelligent bowlers I have come across who believed in out-thinking the batsmen," he added.
| Ads by Google |
Total Comments: 1
Read All Comments | Post Comment
Posted By
Surely Anil Kumble's name will be remembered as one of the greatest ever indian cricketers along with anmes like Ranjit
Read Comment