India's favourite son retires

And one of the finest ambassador of world's cricket has retired. The person who never got any commendable praise from the great spinners in his hey days (Bedi, Qadir etc ) but he was destined to surpass all these mortal creatures by going in books as the greatest of them. Anil Kumble certainly rules.
I noticed him first time in 1993 when i was just a kid but the way he demolished the all powerful English Team in 1993 was really a gem (The English team was full of great players like Getting, Gooch, Hick etc ). I became a fan of his when he destroyed the mighty West Indies at Eden Gardens in 1993, the final of Hero Cup by taking 6 wkts of 12 runs. Till date its the best ODI figures for any Indian bowler. He never looked back after that match and became the Match winner for India since then. He was the triumph card of India specially under Mohammad Azharuddin. When ever we wanted to take wickets bowl was thrown to Kumble, whenever we wanted to curb the run rate bowl was thrown to Kumble. We cursed ICC so much why they have restricted number of overs per bowler in ODI. The downfall of Kumble started as soon as the new millennium arrived. His performance in the 2nd half of his career has certainly not been world class. There are many factors for this mainly the arrival of new energetic pace attack in Zaheer, Nehra etc and evolution of Harbhajan Singh. People started criticizing him that he only takes the lower order wickets and he is a poor fielder but he went on giving his performances (althought not that regular) be it bowling against West Indies in 2002 when his entire face and head was covered with white bands or be it against the mighty Australians in 2003-04 when we were so close to win the series or be it against Pakistan last year or be against his maiden Test century against the English last year at Oval or his handling of the Indian team in the hyper politicised tour of Australia last year. He certainly ruled the world.

Let me enumerate his memorable performances that i have enjoyed most
1. Perfect 10 against the Pakistan in 1999 at Kotla, New Delhi. This was the most difficult world record and this record can never be broken.
2. 12 wickets in the farewell match of Steven Waugh at Sydney, 2003. India just missed the golden opportunity to win her maiden Test series down under.
3. 13 wickets against Australia at Chennai in 2004. India again missed to level the series this time because of the rain.
4. 6 for 12 against the WI at Eden Gardens in 1993. This was the most memorable performance i ODI.
5. 4 for 25 against the South Africans at Wankhede in 1996, the final of Titan cup.

The legacy of Anil Kumble now lies with Harbhajan and others. Its difficult to fill the gap of this giant but as they say time is the greatest healer and so be it. He will be remembered as the one of the finest Indian cricketers in the same league as Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Kapil Dev and most probably Rahul Dravid.