It is hard to believe that Anil Kumble will not bowl for India any more. It is harder to write on the retirement of one of the game’s greatest cricketers, the man they called the Smiling Assassin but he would rather be known as Anil Kumble.
He has meant different things to different people. His captains – from Mohammed Azharuddin through Rahul Dravid – have found him to be a reliable match-winner, each of his team-mates has held him in awe and opposing batsmen have respectfully feared him. It is a pity that the masses did not really accord him hero status that he so deserves.
Your take