Kumble: The town that gave India’s spin wizard — Anil Kumble — his name is now sad. The news of the cricketer’s retirement from the IPL filled the entire town with resentment.
“We feel the glory Anil Kumble brought to our village has suddenly started to wither away. We would have liked him to go on for a few more years in active cricket. We had sent him emails urging him to stay back when he retired from the Test cricket, but this is something we cannot digest,” said Venu Nair, captain of Kumble Cricket team.
Just a few months ago, Kumble town civic body had dedicated a road to the legendary bowler (35km from Mangalore) and the politicians who attended the programme had even promised to reserve land for a cricket academy to be named after Anil Kumble.
“It is too early for him to retire,” said a cricket enthusiast Prakash Nimbat, from Kasargod.
There is not much of domestic cricket in this town, but a few have reached the Kerala State Cricket Academy level, which runs a cricket clinic in Kasargod and Kannur. Vinod Nair, who was selected for the state junior team last year, told DNA: “Jumbo (Anil Kumble) has always been my idol, even though I am a wicket-keeper. Sometime back I had the rare opportunity to take a few deliveries from him at Thiruvananthapuram. I was keeping up to the sticks when he bowled. I thought his deliveries would be slower considering he was a spinner but I could hardly take the ball, let alone take a stumping chance. He just smiled and asked me to stand a few steps from the wicket.”
Prakash, a sports photographer of Kasargod who bought his coffee table book Wide Angle, flaunted his autograph on the book.
“I derived great inspiration from the book and especially his photographs on wildlife; the quality is excellent just like his maiden wicket overs on the fields. I wish he continues playing the IPL. However, the reasons he cited for the resignation were valid as he has a more responsible role to play as the chairman of KSCA,” he said.
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