The Giant steps down :-(

The gentle giant of indian cricket has finally called it a day. Jumbo aka anil kumble all of a sudden announced his retirement in delhi..

A cricket enthusiast, i grew up watching kumble bowl and that too in his fiery old days along with some good old spinners Venkatapathy raju and rajesh Chauhan. A spin trio for some 4 years if i remember correctly winning any match on the indian pitch.

The bowler that he is and the records he has, he is down to earth and soft spoken. He hardly lets out emotions and lets his bowling speak for himself. I have hardly seen kumble in his 18 years of cricket getting into the bad books of any one. He is the only other cricketer other than sachin and probably rahul whom the cricket world RESPECTS. The current crop of rubbish and indisciplined cricketers( i prefer to call them rubbish) that india have to learn how to conduct themsleves on the ground.

Incidently after the controversial sydney test he commented, 'in my 17 years in cricket , i have not been to the match referee's room even once. now i am there daily for some reason or the other'. That shows the man's discipline. he led the team with dignity and maintained the dignity of the team in demanding circumstances.

Kumble you Rock!!!!

even though he has left the cricketing arena, he has left behind loads of golden memories for all of us. Every one has spoken about his great records and his wicket of lara after a broken jaw . But here are some of my personal favourites

1. The 8th wicket partnership with Javagal Srinath in bangalore to win the match against australia.

2. the 6/12 against Wi in eden gardens

3. The C & B of mushtaq ahmed in 96 WC in the quarter finals in B lore.( who said he is a bad fielder)

4. The Googly to get Steve Waugh out in the second innings of the 98 Chennai test. the ball did actually spin from outside the off stump and hit the middle stump.

5. The 88 Vs SA along with azhar in eden gardens

6. the 100 against england at the fag end of his career.

7. the innumerable number of rippers

8. the last one and the most memorable one - in the press conferfence in Sydney - 'only one team played in the spirit of the game and you know who it is'

there are loads.. i can keep on adding. but this is for the while.

Jumbo ... we are going to miss you :-(((