Making Peace With Anil Kumble .....

Kumble has been a fine cricketer over a long period of time for India and still remains India's best bet in spin department.Even his harshest critics ,and even i have been one,will have to concede that you cannot find a more tough competitor.Though he is classified as a legspinner ,he hardly spins the ball and has been ridiculed no end for his lack of ability to make the ball talk on unresponsive surfaces a la Shane Warne or a Muralitharan.But Kumble has converted his so called weakness into his strength by being accurate and unrelenting in his attack and in the process has got more than 500 test wickets.No mean achievement that.He bowled with a broken jaw in West Indies because he realised that the team counted on him ,and this is just one example of his grit.
Though ,the captaincy has come late in the day for Kumble ,it does seem that he is relishing this opportunity to lead the Indian side.The test series in Australia will be his trial by fire and the way he led from the front in taking 5 wickets on the opening day of the first test augurs well for India and for Kumble.
My animosity for Kumble dates back to the time when i was in school and had a chance encounter with the Indian team during a flight from Delhi to Calcutta.I approached him for an autograph during the flight like so many others and by then he must have had enough of his fans,so he refused to oblige me.And from then onwards i have been critical of his exploits ,but his performance today made me realise that maybe now its time to move on .Good luck Kumble !!!