For very obvious reasons, one would ideally expect a bowler to adhere to the advises of a specialist batter while batting. However, when former India captain Anil Kumble decided to act in accordance to the one furnished to him by former India batter Virender Sehwag, it had cost him a wonderful opportunity to score his second Test century (first on Australian soil).
Advertisement
Sehwag, who was never averse to the idea of reaching personal milestones by hitting a boundary and believed in playing an aggressive brand of cricket, wanted Kumble to play with a more or less similar approach during the fourth Test match of India’s tour of Australia 2007/08 at the Adelaide Oval.
Known for producing one of the best batting tracks in the country, the ground played like one during the entirety of that match. With Kumble batting on 87* alongside pacer Ishant Sharma (14*) for the 10th wicket during the first innings, India had already batted out almost the entire afternoon session on Day 2 after winning the toss and electing to bat first.
Paying Heed To Virender Sehwag’s Advise, Anil Kumble Once Missed Out On 2nd Test Century
With the scorecard past the 500-run mark, the duo had already crossed a half-century partnership. Moreover, while Kumble was batting at a strike rate of mere 42.43, Sharma was striking at 29.16. This period of play was perhaps itching Sehwag in the dressing room and he sent out a word of advice for Kumble to attack the spinners a tad more.
During an interaction with popular YouTuber Vikram Sathaye almost six years ago, Sehwag had revealed how he had simply advised Kumble to play a few shots against off-spinners, but never knew that the latter would indeed pay heed to his words. Sehwag was responding to Vikram’s question upon being asked to react on Kumble’s earlier comment blaming him as the reason he’d lost his wicket while batting in the 90s.
“Anil bhai achchi batting karte the. But kya off-spinner ke aage aise khel sakte ho? To maine sirf unko kaha ki off-spinner ke saamne aap shot laga sakte ho. Mujhe nahi pata tha ki Anil bhai meri sun lenge! Warna hum Anil bhai ki sunte the hamesha [Anil used to bat decently. But can you keep defending against off-spinners? I just told him that you could play a few more shots against off-spinners. I didn’t know he would really take my advise seriously. In fact, we were the ones who used to obey his commands].”
It is worth of a mention that it was a left-arm wrist spinner in Brad Hogg who was bowling alongside the pacers such as Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson during the overs leading to Kumble’s dismissal. Also, while the host in the above video claims that he was batting somewhere in his 90s, Kumble was actually dismissed on 87.
Taking into consideration how both a left-arm wrist spinner and an off-spinner turn the ball into a right-handed batter, one understands why Sehwag suggested Kumble to attack this crop of bowlers. It is worth mentioning that Sehwag himself never considered off-spinners as bowlers.
What Would’ve Two Test Centuries Meant For Anil Kumble?
Anil Kumble had smashed his maiden Test century against England at The Oval in August 2007. With the other two being Ajit Agarkar and Ravichandran Ashwin, Kumble remains only one of the three Indian bowlers to have scored an overseas Test ton till now.
Had he smashed a ton in the aforementioned Test, he would have become the first batter in the Top 10 list of most Test wicket-takers in career to have smashed more than one overseas century at the time. One of the five players in the 600+ wickets club, no other bowler still has an overseas century under his name.
Regardless of the records, a Test century in England and Australia for someone with 619 wickets in his career would have been quite a feat anyway.
