Anil Kumble Reveals an Instance When He Lured an Umpire to Get Decision in his Favour

Former Indian National Cricket Team skipper Anil Kumble is one the greatest cricketers to have represented the Indian team. No bowler in history won India more Test matches than Kumble with a trademark action as the ball hacked through the air rather than hanging in it and came off the pitch faster.

Meanwhile, in a brilliant, though always downplayed career Anil Kumble claimed virtually every Indian record. In 1999 in Delhi he swallowed all ten wickets in an innings against Pakistan. In December 2001, on home turf in Bangalore, he became India’s first spinner to take 300 Test wickets. A year later, almost to the day, he became the first to do so in one-dayers. In August 2007 at The Oval, he went past Glenn McGrath‘s 563 wickets and in January 2008 he broke the 600 barriers, to stand behind Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan. However, his favourite cricketing moment came when he struck a century at the Oval – for which he has been waiting long.

A shoulder injury with a few wicketless outing laid his retirement during the Border-Gavaskar Test series in 2008. After his international retirement, Kumble continued to be a part of the game actively. In 2016, Anil Kumble took over the head coach’s role before the series against Windies. But he had to resign midway after a clash with skipper Virat Kohli.

When Kumble lured an umpire

A cricketer of Anil Kumble’s stature showed enough grit and determination during his career. He bowled 14 overs with a broken jaw against Windies in Antigua and picked the wicket of Brian Lara. He recently appeared on a talk show named What the Duck alongside Virender Sehwag. During the candid chat, Kumble revealed how he lured an umpire to get decisions in his favour. Going in detail, Kumble stated that a few decisions went against him in the first Test compelling him to invite the umpire before the second Test and lure him to get a few decision in their favour.

Kumble while describing the incident revealed that he called in Mohammad Kaif and bowled a few deliveries asking the latter to play some balls with the pad. While the umpire turned down the first appeal, he gave Kaif out in the nets in the second appeal. Kumble, who had good game-reading abilities understood that tricks have worked well. The star leg-spinner admitted it went in their favour and the benefit of the doubt went to them. After hearing this insider story both Kumble and Virender Sehwag burst out laughing along with the host of the show.

Anil Kumble retired from Test cricket in 2008 playing ending with 619 wickets from 138 matches and also had a staggering 337 ODI wickets to his name.

Watch the video here: