Former Team India skipper Anil Kumble is one of the best spinners to play the game. His dominant display troubled every batter across the globe. But who is the one who troubled him the most? Recently, Anil Kumble in a chat picked the best batsman he bowled against in his career.
Meanwhile, since his debut in 1990, Kumble has locked horns with some of the best batsmen to play the game. Kumble enjoyed great on-field battles with the likes of Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara and Inzamam-ul-Haq.
Anil Kumble picks the best batsman he bowled to
However, when it came to picking the best batsman, Anil Kumble named West Indies legend Brian Lara. Both of them has locked horns a couple of times and Kumble reckoned him as the most difficult batsman to bowl to.
The former cricketer also admitted that he was lucky to have a handful of star batsmen in his side. Kumble played alongside the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, and Sourav Ganguly. He stated that he was lucky that he only bowled to them in the nets.
“Lots of them but fortunately most of them were a part of my team. It was very good that I had Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly, Sehwag – all these guys in the nets rather than thinking in the previous evening that I have to bowl at these guys in a match,” Kumble said in a conversation with Pommie Mbangwa.
“Many batsmen who were very difficult to bowl at. But Brian Lara was probably at the top. He had four different shots to every delivery that you bowled and that was the biggest challenge, you thought you could beat him, you would get him but then he would change his stroke and sort of tap you through the third man,” Kumble added.
In his 18 years of international career, Anil Kumble represented India in 132 Tests and 271 ODIs claiming 619 and 337 wickets respectively. He also led India for a brief period and made a name for himself in a short span. Kumble also coached India but had an abrupt end as he had to step down owing to issues with Virat Kohli.