Turning less But with Effectiveness -- End Part (By Priyam Bhattacharjee)
On 17th instant, on the bithday of Anil Kumble, Priyam Bhattacharjee wrote the 1st Part of this article. Today it's the second as well as the last part of the Tribute.
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In the last part, I told about the early career story of Kumble and a bit of his county career. It would be puerile to say that Kumble should have been made a test match bowler right through. The young engineer with a mature head himself knows that. “I was waiting for an opportunity to prove my mettle,when it came,I did well to impress,gained in confidence & all these good things have happened”. & whenever Kumble speaks of his career he does express his sense of gratitude to Dinesh, who is now in the U.S. But ,in his whole career , manytime he was deprived by selectors too. Just like before 2003-04 Australia away series, selectors were reluctant of picking him as his form was going through a very lean phrase of time, but the then captain of national side SOURAV GANGULY fought for him in the squad with selectors and after so many argumentation, selectors had to bowed down to captain, & Kumble did not disappoint his captain’s faith on him as he was the highest wicket taker of that series.like that, so many times he had proved his critics wrong and cameback stronger than before.
Now, with so many stories so far,lets concentrate on some numbers of his test career :-
Country-wise statistics in test :-
Country Match Wicks Average Economy SR 5w 10w Wckts/match
Australia 10 49 37.73 3.46 65.39 4 1 4.9
England 10 36 41.42 2.84 87.47 - - 3.6
India(h) 63 350 24.89 2.51 59.41 25 7 5.5
Pakistan 6 24 42.42 3.72 68.38 1 - 4
Sri Lanka 9 30 44.63 2.88 93.03 1 - 3.3
RSA 12 45 32.02 2.27 84.78 1 - 3.75
Windies 11 45 31.29 2.92 64.40 3 - 4.09
Zimbabwe 4 14 29.14 2.65 66 - - 3.50
B’desh 4 15 16.53 3.06 32.47 - - 3.75
NZ 3 11 40.27 2.31 104.45 - - 3.6
As he was a spinner and captains introduced him maximum time a bit later, his wicket taking chance was a bit higher for middle order of the batting ine up.
On percentage wise his wicket taken on batting order are as follows :-
Top order (1-3) :- 173 (27.9 %)
Middle order(4-7):- 245(39.6 %)
Lower order (8-11):- 201 (32.5 %)
Kumble was not a turner like WARNE who can turn the ball on any soil & taking wickets on every condition and pitches, or a bit magician like MURALI, who can create magic on any soil, but with accurate bowling & bowling with proper judgment on batsman with effectiveness, made him featured in that legendary list of alltime greats. He was the second best spinner for India after
Chandrasekhar on bowling average basis outside asia & moreover his fourth innings avg is the minimum among his all match innings list :-
Innings no. wickets Average Strike rate 5w:-
1 168 34.50 76.25 10
2 171 29.88 68.95 8
3 186 28.74 61.16 12
4 94 22.39 51.84 5
Dismissals wise a spinner has to depend on fielders a bit more,without their support any spinner has very less things to do.with more dismissals in catching, he had strong ability to trap batsmen’s leg in front of the wicket and if pitch is little bit of dry or uneven, then his bowling could be unplayable for any world class batsman.
Wickets obtained type No of Wickets Percentage(%)
Bowled 94 15.2
Caught 313 50.6
Caught behind 32 5.2
LBW 156 25.2
Stumped 24 3.9
Not many spinners had much consistent enough through out his career & if a player having a span of 18 years of test career, he must be consistent enough to be selected on regular basis. But fitness is always been problem for him as he was many times in & out for injury. Surprisingly, Kumble was much fair consistent contender than many of his contemporaries if you look at wickets/match in all over the years though his bowling average was always like share market index ;)
Year Match Wickets Average Strike Rate Wickets/match
1990 1 3 56.67 120 3
1992 4 17 25.88 80.76 4.25
1993 8 46 23.30 61.74 5.75
1994 7 33 25.09 60.42 4.71
1995 3 10 15.20 43.40 3.3
1996 8 29 32.34 80.59 3.6
1997 12 36 43.94 97.06 3
1998 5 36 19.39 52.22 7.2
1999 10 54 27.06 64.65 5.4
2000 3 12 32.25 76 4
2001 5 24 28.50 64.54 4.8
2002 10 49 27.67 63.80 4.9
2003 4 21 36.43 73.57 5.25
2004 12 74 24.84 49.73 6.16
2005 8 41 29.34 60.39 5.12
2006 12 57 33.51 66.63 4.75
2007 10 49 29.41 56.82 4.9
2008 10 28 51.07 99.18 2.8
Excluding the great, SHANE WARNE, not many modern spinners had got success hugely in away from home, Kumble was not also an exception. His bowling avg and SR had been upraised hugely in away tours,but it was sometimes proved too crucial for the visitors though.:-
Place Wickets Average SR
HOME 350 24.89 59.41
AWAY 269 35.86 74.57
Taking all of his flows,less spin,more home effectiveness sometimes , no one can deny that in his days, he can numb any batsman on any pitches at ease. His winning contribution outside Asia has spoken this fact with more sound,as India had not been very much successful in outside Asia overall, though what minimum win India achieved in his career, he was lion contributor of that. That’s
justify his importance in the team in alien & unfavorable conditions too.
In won matches outside asia against top teams :-
innings wkts avg SR 5w 10wk
12 35 23.22 42.6 2 -
Wickets/innings = 2.91
In won & drawn matches outside asia against top teams :-
innings wkts avg SR 5w 10wk
54 126 32.98 72.6 6 1
Wickets/innings= 2.33
In won & drawn matches in asia against top teams:-
innings wckts avg SR 5w 10wk
104 323 25.05 58.8 22 7
Wickets/innings=3.1
In won matches in asia against top teams :-
innings wckts avg SR 5w 10wk
58 210 17.63 43.7 16 5
Wickets/innings=3.62
In his test appearences some of his classical match defining bowling performances in innings & in match are as follows :-
In innings :-
1. 10/74 vs PAK ,1999, DELHI
2. 8/141 vs AUS ,2004, SYDNEY
3. 7/48 vs AUS, 2004, BANGALORE
4. 7/59 vs SL,1994, KD SINGH STADIUM
In match :-
1. 14/149 vs PAK,1999,DELHI
2. 13/181 vs AUS,2004,BANGALORE
3. 12/279 vs AUS,2004,SYDNEY
4. 11/128 vs SL,KD SINGH STADIUM
SOME OF HIS ACHIEVEMENTS IN HIS LIFE :-
1. He was ‘CRICKETER OF THE YEAR’ in 1993.
2. He was one the ‘WISDEN CRICKETER OF THE YEAR’ in 1996.
3. He had done a pivotal & crucial role in 1996 world cup for india,in 7 matches he grabbed 15 scalps @18.73.
4. He was awarded ‘PADMASHRI’ in 2005.
5. In October 2012,kumble was appointed the chairman of ICC.
6. In February 2015, he became the 4th indian to be inducted into ‘ICC HALL OF FAME’.
7. He was appointed as director of the indian cricket team in 2016,served till 2017 CHAMPIONS TROPHY with epitome of success as India whitewashed England,new Zealand in their then and beaten West Indies in away.
8. He was captained India for 14 test matches with 3 wins,5 losses & 6 drawn,he was termed as very much underrated & tactical captain. He was captain of an odi too & won that. In shortest format too he proved his mettle as captain,when his team RCB went to the final of IPL 2009 under his captaincy.
Despite his outstanding record, there was always snide remarks that Kumble was nothing more than just a home track bully, suited to demolish opposition on dust-bowls, but the funny part is as the year progressed, Kumble put them to bed as he led india to victory across continents from Rawalpindi to Sydney, from Jamaica to Johannesburg, from Wellington to Nottingham. In that process, he gained enormous goodwill amongst fans and his fellow teammates for being
fiercely aggressive and competitive on the field and unerringly composed and humble of it. Anil Kumble was perhaps cricket’s last gentleman.
STAT SOURCE- HowStat, StatGuru
INFORMATION SOURCE – Indian Cricket 1993, 47th Edition
SPECIAL THANKS to Mr. Sumit Gangopadhyay for his support and help with his countless knowledge!
Writer- PRIYAM BHATTACHARJEE
Link of the Part 1: Turning less But with Effectiveness -- First Part (By Priyam Bhattacharjee)
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