Rise of Kumble a remarkable story

PERTH: In an era where there have been shorter boundaries, bigger bats and more attacking flare, it's amazing to think Test cricket's top three wicket-takers are spinners, the Herald Sun has reported.

Shane Warne, Muthiah Muralitharan and Anil Kumble, the latest man to join the 600-wicket club, sits atop one of cricket's most coveted individual categories.

It's a startling feat when you consider only 20 years ago spin bowling was under major threat because of the raging success the West Indies had experienced with their four-man pace battery.

Skipper Clive Lloyd rolled out his fast bowlers like they were hired assassins, shooting down anyone who got in their way.

Other nations were desperate to copy this style, and spinners, either because they were ignored or just weren't good enough, found themselves fading out of the game. That suddenly changed in the early 1990s when Warne, Murali and Kumble were given a go and began to make their mark.

In Warne, Murali and Kumble, cricket found the perfect trio.

Warne and Murali always had a chance of becoming dominant forces because their stock balls spun sharply and would always test the technique and wits of the game's best batsmen.

But the rise of Kumble has perhaps been more of a remarkable story since he doesn't appear to do that much with the ball.

What he relies on is a subtle change of pace and building pressure by repeatedly hitting the pads.

Kumble's last 200 wickets have come in 40 Tests, at a time when his strike-rate has dropped by nearly 10 balls to 58.5, almost on par with Warne's career rate.

He is by far India's greatest match-winning bowler. His 279 wickets in 41 Indian victories - till the start of the Perth Test - have come at 18.41 apiece. In draws and defeats that average has leapt to more than 35.

He leads the collection of silverware among all Indians with 10 'man of the match' awards and four 'man of the series' prizes.

Comparing rookie pacer Ishant Sharma to former pace ace Javagal Srinath, Kumble said the young speedster notched up a superb performance.

"He was brilliant. He looks like what Srinath was in his early days. He showed a great attitude."

About Sharma's extended spell, which earned the crucial wicket of Australian captain Ricky Ponting, Kumble said, "Viru (Sehwag) is the Delhi captain. So he told me that Ishant is used to bowl longer spells. I asked Ishant if he can bowl one more over and he said yes. Since Ricky was there it was important."

Kumble also singled out Sehwag (2-24), who he brought in as a change bowler, for his outstanding performance causing the Australian collapse.

"Sehwag does something special. It was special to get Gilly (Adam Gilchrist) at that stage," he said and added 'in fact, everyone chipped in to contribute to the win in some way or the other.'

The 37-year-old legspinner, who also achieved his personal milestone of crossing the 600-wicket mark here, gave credit to his team for ulitising the conditions here better than the hosts.

"It was a brilliant effort from our boys. It is really special. No one gave us a chance before the match but we utilised the conditions better."

"It was a brilliant effort from young pace attack, it also showed in their body language."

Rival captain Ricky Ponting tried to be graceful in the defeat by expressing the disappointment but offering no excuses for their below-par show.

"It is disappointing but no excuses for the defeat," Ponting said after Australian team was deprived of a record 17th successive Test win by the Indians.

Ponting, however, admitted that his team needed some bigger partnerships and more runs in the first innings which could have made their run-chase easier.

"We could have scored better in the first innings and we also needed some good partnerships. It would have helped our cause in the run-chase. But India's young bowlers really bowled well because of which it was not possible," he said.

Man-of-the-match paceman Irfan Pathan, who picked 3-54 in the fourth innings and also contributed 46 runs with the bat in India's second innings, said things were looking better for him from here.

"It's pretty good. I'm pretty happy with the way I batted and the way I bowled," he said.

He admitted that he was not bowling well last year but the return of swing in his deliveries had again made him effective.

"If a player has a stint of 10-12 years, bad times are bound to happen and that happened with me also. I worked at the MRF Pace Foundation and with our bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad. Things are looking much better for me now," he said.

On his all round performance, he insisted, "I have mentioned that I am a bowler first and would also like to contribute to the team with the bat".