Kumble at Bangalore airport. (PTI)

Bangalore, April 1: Silent assassin Anil Kumble came home on Thursday night in anticipation of a thrill of a different kind: parenthood.

The leggie flew out of Multan soon after India’s historic victory and landed tonight to join wife Chetna ahead of the new arrival. “The baby was due on April 14, but the doctors have indicated an early arrival,” a friend of Kumble said.

Kumble and Chetna were married in Bangalore on July 1, 1999. Aaruni, Chetna’s eight-year-old daughter from her first marriage, lives with the couple, who got custody after a long-drawn legal battle.

On his return, Kumble, who came up with a match-winning spell, would have noticed that his heroics and the role of local icon Rahul Dravid as skipper did not set off victory celebrations or processions with pictures of the Indian team in their home city.

Bangalore was rather calm compared to the scenes on March 24, when India defeated Pakistan to win the one-day series. Dravid’s parents, Sharad and Pushpa, stepped out of their house briefly at noon to share their joy with reporters.

“Dil jeet ke aarahen hain,” was how mother Pushpa summed up the team’s victory. “We are very, very happy. What matters is the victory for the team,” Sharad said, on his son’s captaincy.

The victory has earned the team a new supporter in former Australia skipper Allan Border. “I think India will continue to dominate over Pakistan (through the series). The batting was awesome and quickies bowled well on an insipid wicket. They have gained great confidence after the tour Down Under,” he told reporters at the Chinnaswamy stadium here.

Border is here as part of a Queensland initiative to fly in their team and pit them against Ranji cricketers.

Left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi, who has partnered leggie Kumble and Dravid in domestic and Test cricket, said both had proved their utility yet again. “Anil bowled an amazing spell, perhaps the best after the one in Delhi (10/74) which we won in 1999. People who don’t know his skills said he will not return after the tour of Australia. I know he plays every series with a new delivery up his sleeve,” he said.

As for Syed Kirmani, chairman of the selection committee, a clean sweep of the two Tests seems imminent. “We have the ability to overwhelm them. I am proud to be an Indian at this moment,” he said.

His predecessor Brijesh Patel, though, had a word of caution: do not be complacent. “We need tall scores like we had in Multan and penetrative bowling to come home with a series win,” he said.