Anil Kumble Reveals Why He Was Never Sledged By Australians

Sledging, banter and world-class cricket have always been the feature of any India-Australia fixture. From Sourav Ganguly making Steve Waugh wait for the toss in 2001, ‘Monkeygate’ in 2008, the brain fade moment of Steve Smith to the countless banters during the last series, this famous fixture has witnessed several famous incidents over the years.

However, Anil Kumble is one player who was surprisingly never sledged by the Aussies. There are very few cricketers who sledge more than the Australians but Anil Kumble managed to keep himself safe. The former India skipper himself revealed the fascinating fact. The legendary spinner said that the Australian never sledged him since he was good friends with spin legend Shane Warne.

“No, I dont remember much. What Ive heard is if you are a friend of Shane Warne, you never get sledged. I was a friend of Shane Warne, so I didnt get sledged, Anil Kumble told Kings XI Punjab in an interview.

Loved bowling against Australia:

Anil Kumble enjoyed success with the ball in almost all the parts of the world. He retired from Tests as India’s highest wicket-taker with a staggering 619 scalps to his name. However, he loved bowling to Australian more than any other team.

“I think as a bowler you’d want to bowl against everyone. Its a challenge (bowling against each team). But bowling against Australia (I loved the most), because at that time they were the best side international cricket. You would want to showcase what you can do and what you can achieve against the best in the business and that something I took up as a challenge and that’s wonderful to have many battles against the Aussies,” he said.

Kumble boasts of a very fine record against Australia. He played 20 Tests against the team from Down Under and picked up an impressive 111 wickets. He picked up 10 five-wicket hauls against them. Kumble was a part of the Indian team that famously drew the Test series in Australia in 2003-04.