One of the most successful all-around players in the history of English Cricket, Anil Kumble played almost everything – including leg-spinners – at a high level, which included leg-side spinners, off-spinnersSharman Joshi-Bio, Height & Life Story, Age, Wiki, pull-agers, spinner, and more.
He captained England during the late 80s and early 90s, but his finest hour undoubtedly came during the Bangladesh tournament of 1995, where he was arguably England’s greatest ever batsman. Although he failed to win any matches that season, he did help his side win the trophy that year.
Since then, Kumble has remained an English player of note, playing for Surrey and Somerset in the County Championship and helping them win the county trophy a couple of times. He is still one of England’s better all-rounders, although he seems to have lost some of his confidence over the years.
ProfileAnil Kumble first played for England at the under-age level in a Twenty20 international against Pakistan at the 1994 World Cup. He impressed on that occasion, scoring two runs from three balls, although he didn’t make a century that day.
He became a regular member of the England squad that went to the United States for the Cricket World Cup that year, where he impressed again, making four hundred and ten runs at a very impressive rate. After leaving the England team, Kumble retired to become a teacher.
Career highlights the most memorable period in Anil Kumble’s life came during the lead up to the War in Afghanistan when he took 11 wickets in a row against the West Indies in the United Kingdom.
This was an enormous feat in itself, but Kumble also made himself into a bowling analyst for Sky TV, giving him invaluable experience in the field. Kumble was part of the England team that won the Cricket World Cup in 1994 and also managed to win the County Championship the following year.
Kumble is now a respected figure in the England team and works as an instructor at Lord’s Cricket Ground in North Yorkshire. He is well placed in the England team but does admit that he would like to be bowling more regularly.”I certainly bowl now and again, but I do feel that my leg-side spinner needs to get used to the back foot bowling of spinners. It is probably something that needs to be worked on more.”
It is believed that the Indian spinner initially set up the batting on the off-stump to try and catch the ball on the front foot. This worked to his advantage as it allowed him to step up and create some great strokes. However, it did have its disadvantages, and Kumble found it very hard to release the spinner at a good pace.
In the meantime, he had tried to bowl out of the gate, but this often caused problems as he could not make contact with the stumps and could always end up stumping himself. He found that his bat was often getting hung up behind the stumps even when he released it with a good pace.
The leg-side spinner seems to be the perfect solution to all these problems as the bat can be released easily from the ground without causing any worry of stumps being stuck in the nets.
This type of bowler also causes the least problems as he can move to a different leg-side while bowling, allowing the bowler to cover different areas on the wicket. It also helps to bowl from a position that is more convenient for a bowler. Kumble bowls from the deeper part of the crease, and this is close to the batsmen’s leg-side. This helps him to get a comfortable position and also makes the most of his bowling action.
The leg-side spinner has made life easier for all bowlers in India are no exception to this. Though there was always a debate between bowlers and leg spinners’ pros, the bowler has slowly bought into the concept. Nowadays, the spinner is the norm rather than the exception. With the leg-side spinner, you don’t have to fear getting stumped.
