Former India spinner Anil Kumble was considered one of the greatest bowlers of his time. However, Kumble was often compared with Australian spinner Shane Warne. Speaking of the same the 49-year old said that he never understood why people compared him with the Aussie spinner.
In a recent Instagram Live session with former Zimbabwe pacer Pommie Mbangwa, Anil Kumble expressed how felt when being compared with Shane Warne. Kumble said, “It feels really wonderful to finish with these many wickets. I never bothered about statistics or what my average should be, I wanted to bowl the whole day and be the one to take wickets. To finish as the third-highest wicket-taker in Tests alongside Murali and Warne is very special. All three of us played in the same era, there were a lot of comparisons, I do not know why people compared me with Warne. Warne was someone really different and he was on a different plane.”
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He further added that Shane Warne and Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralitharan could spin the ball on any surface. Hence, it became difficult for him when everyone started comparing him with Warne and Murali. Kumble also mentioned that he learned a lot from watching them bowl.
Anil Kumble scrapped 619 wickets in Test cricket while Warne and Murali have 708 and 800 wickets in their kitty respectively.
For the unversed, Kumble is the second bowler in the history of international cricket after England’s Jim Laker to take a 10-wicket haul in an inning of a Test match. He clinched this record against Pakistan in 1999 at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi.
Kumble is currently coaching Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL).