Happy Birthday, Anil Kumble: the warrior who claimed Brian Lara with a cracked jaw

Have you ever imagined what it feel like for pugilists to take a clout on their jaw, get it shattered and stand back up with a sore face, and just being reprieved that the next bout is probably a couple of months away?

Well, India has a man who didn’t proliferate in the ring but was more of a sun-wrought warrior whose fingers produced magic on a slab of 22 yards, leaving eminent willow-men twisted in a knot of chaos and surprise. He goes by the name of Anil Kumble.

Kumble almost single-handedly toppled dynasties in the longest format of the game as if they were citadels made of glass. But then amidst all his heroics if there was one particular innings that people will never forget was when he defied all kinds of tangible and intangible agony and stepped feet in St. John’s to challenge a full-fledged Caribbean batting order led by the iconic Brian Lara.

It was the third day of the Test when Sourav Ganguly made a surprising call by asking Anil Kumble to take guard ahead of Ajay Ratra. The towering Caribbean fast bowlers, especially the menacing Mervyn Dillon was in no mood to entertain India’s capricious moves as he welcomed Jumbo with a nasty bumper.

Perplexed by the marauding pace and bounce, Kumble moved his eyes from the ball and the next thing he knew was that Andrew Leipus was tending to his paining jaw. In fact, such was the monstrosity that he started coughing blood and there were signs of internal trouble. Albeit all the throes, he did manage to get back up and chose to continue.

Given the bowler that Dillon was, he was not going to let Kumble breathe and the following deliveries were simply a test of Kumble’s extraterrestrial endurance. A barrage of short balls were flying and one of them caught Kumble again and Shivnarine Chanderpaul put him out of his misery with a simple grab.

The surface exhibited sharp turn and with Kumble out of the equation, Sourav just had Sachin Tendulkar in his ranks and had ample reasons to fret about. However, shocking everyone, Anil Kumble requested Leipus to swathe his face in a wrap after a second x-ray revealed that there was a crack in his jaw.

Despite persistent requests, Kumble was not going to listen and sit back. Leipus finally had to give in to Jumbo’s relentless requests and when he took the yard against West Indies, even the iconic Brian Charles Lara was startled.

Every single time, Jumbo placed that front foot of his, it knocked his jaw repeatedly and the pain was palpable. Yet, he was not willing to withdraw himself. With a jaw cracked, with his face swollen more than ever, Anil Kumble kept on hitting the line of the stumps and one of those skitters flew past Lara’s bat and rattled onto his pads and the umpire didn’t take much time in pointing his finger to the sky.

With a distended face and a puffed-up chest, Anil Kumble penned a legacy that very few dare to conjure. He would eventually finish with figures of 14-5-29-1 and later would finally acquiesce to his teammates’ requests of getting himself treated in the hospital but all of this happened only when India was done with the match. Amongst all his heroics exploits in the 22-yards, this Test would remain immortal.

It was a testimony to the fact that not all games are about wickets and runs. Not all of this sport is about those gruelling numbers. It is also about an undaunted spirit and our birthday boy simply made an example of it. Sir Vivian Richards testified to the blazing greatness as he revealed, “It was one of the bravest things I’ve seen on the field of play”. Wishing you a very happy birthday, Jumbo.