Former Cricketers Kumar Sangakkara, Wasim Akram, Mahela Jayawardene Pay Tribute To Anil Kumble Following His Entry In The ICC Hall Of Fame

Champion Indian leg-spinner and one of the country’s greatest match-winner, Anil Kumble was recently inducted in the ICC Hall Of Fame.

And, to mark the occasion, cricket legends like Kumar Sangakkara, Wasim Akram, Mahela Jayawardene spoke about what made the leg-spinner such a dominating force during the course of his 18-year-old career.

Kumar Sangakkara claimed that Anil Kumble gave him plenty of sleepless nights night Kimble batsman.

Sangakkara attributed Kumble’s success to his pace, accuracy, bounce, and the fact that he would attack the stumps ball-after-ball and over-after-over, thus making run-scoring extremely difficult.

“Kumble has given me a few sleepless nights as a batsman. He was not your orthodox leg-spinner. This big, tall gangly bowler running in and bowling with very high arm action. Bowling fast, bowling straight and accurately. It was not at all easy to get him away for runs. A lot of bounce… he had great pace on the ball and if there was any rough on a length, the batsman had very little chance of getting away. Lovely guy, very intense cricketer but an absolute champion for India and world cricket,” Kumar Sangakkara said in a video shared by the ICC.

“If you were a batsman facing Anil Kumble, you knew that he had a plan for you."

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‘A very difficult bowler’- Wasim Akram on Anil Kumble

Meanwhile, Sangakkara’s teammate and former Sri Lankan captain, Mahela Jayawardene, reckoned that the major reason behind Anil Kumble’s success is the fact that the leg-spinner was well aware of his strengths and he always had a plan in mind against a specific batsman.

“Knew exactly what his strengths were. Didn’t go away from that and just kept asking questions from the batsman. If you were a batsman facing Anil, you knew that he always had a plan for you.”

Wasim Akram, on the other hand, recalled Anil Kumble’s ten-wicket-haul in a single innings against Pakistan in 1999 besides adding that the veteran Indian cricketer was a very difficult bowler, unlike any other leg-spinner.

“I remember he got 10 wickets against us, in India in Delhi in an innings. I was the 10th wicket, I still remember like it was yesterday. A very difficult bowler, unlike any other leg spinner,” said the legendary Pakistan bowler.

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Anil Kumble, who represented India between 1992-2008, called time on his international career as the third-highest Test wicket-taker and the leading wicket-taker for India in Tests [619] and ODI cricket [337].

Kumble claimed a total of 956 international wickets and he also holds the record for the second-most deliveries bowled in Test cricket-40850.

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