Anil Kumble

Calcutta: It’s odd that right through his 18-plus years as a distinguished India cricketer, Test captain Anil Kumble has hardly consistently bagged endorsements. He has never been seen much on hoardings (certainly not at all in recent times) and only occasionally makes the ads in print or on the TV.

With over 950 wickets at the international level, Kumble’s definitely high on numbers. It’s just that he isn’t quite into the kind of numbers game which, in many quarters, has come to determine the standing of a cricketer. In India, at least.

“At times, I’ve thought things could have been different... However, I don’t carry a hype... My manner, perhaps, doesn’t appeal to many,” Kumble told The Telegraph in Lahore, in early 2006, when he was on the threshold of 500 Test wickets.

But, then, one shouldn’t be judging Kumble on endorsements. Not only on the number of wickets he has taken in Test cricket — an awesome 616 — either. If anything, he should be judged more on the leadership (even in the many years that he wasn’t the captain) provided by him.

Leading the attack, after all, also involves leadership. A Glenn McGrath will confirm that.

Kapil Dev and Sourav Ganguly would probably have reacted like Kumble did, in (home town) Bangalore the other day, but most captains would have left it to the Board to clarify the bit about seniors. Why? Because it pays to be politically correct.

Kumble, though, couldn’t care less.

“Everybody needs to be a bit more respectful when they discuss cricketers. If that’s done, then we don’t mind the scrutiny... But when it’s done in a rubbish manner, and the way it has been portrayed, then it hurts,” are excerpts from the uncharacteristic Kumble-blast on Thursday, some 24 hours after the selectors chose the Team India XV for the first two Tests against Australia.

Given that some in the Board are inclined to do away with the senior-most pros at the earliest, those comments were probably directed at the Establishment as well.

Neither the Board president, Shashank Manohar, nor secretary N.Srinivasan bothered to clear the air and, so, the Souravs will remain indebted to Kumble.

Kumble had been a role model-leader during the high-on-tension days after the Harbhajan Singh-Andrew Symonds spat in Sydney, this January, too. The remarkable manner in which he conducted everything quickly earned him the “Elder Statesman” label from many across Australia.

Leadership had been the need of the hour and the unbelievably calm Kumble wasn’t found wanting.

Later, he explained: “That’s my nature... It’s about the way I am... I’ve always been a quiet kind of a guy... I guess it’s very difficult getting to know what I’m thinking... I like to stay relaxed and that’s a mental thing...”

Just days away from his 38th birthday, Kumble isn’t getting younger. But, as he pointed out in Bangalore, “if age was the criterion, I should have retired some time back.”

By his own admission, Kumble wasn’t anywhere near his best in the last Test series, in Sri Lanka, but that’s not to say the Australians will also have it easy.

Eventually, at some point, the innings ending call will be taken by Kumble. One hopes it’s not too soon, for we need him as a bowler and, as crucially, a leader.