An ignored champion

When Indian cricket lovers think of the greatest Indian Test cricketers ever, perhaps the following names come to mind: Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar.

I reckon that by the time they retire, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly may also be ranked alongside these greats; Dravid for being such a prolific scorer and finisher of games, and Ganguly for being the most successful, most brave and simply the best Indian captain ever.

What about Anil Kumble? He is perhaps in the second rung, with cricketers such as Amarnath, Vengsarkar, Shastri, Laxman etc., I always thought. He is a useful bowler, but not fit to be considered among the greatest Indian cricketers ever.

Therefore, it struck me as jarring, a few months ago, to note that Anil Kumble had crossed 350 or so wickets and was steadily moving towards becoming India's most successful bowler.

And earlier this week, he achieved that, equaling Kapil's record of 434 wickets. I wondered to myself why he is rarely seen as being equal to or better than Kapil Dev as a bowler. I also wondered why we never think of him as one of our all-time greats along with Gavaskar, Kapil and Tendulkar. I wondered why he has only rarely advised us on which carbonated drink to guzzle, or which shaving cream to use. Is Kumble simply a single-statistic champion, who has somehow managed to become the highest wicket-taker for the country?

How does he stack up to Kapil Dev, generally regarded as the greatest Indian bowler ever?

As cricketers, they are not comparable. Kapil has been a fine batsman, a courageous captain and a useful fielder. Kumble's contribution to Indian cricket has been limited: he has been an outstanding bowler. Even off the field, they are as different as chalk and cheese. Kapil has managed to create a star presence, while Kumble seems more reticent and shy. In the lighter vein, while Kapil could embarrass Kumble at golf, Kumble may be a tad better at calculus. Therefore, the really relevant question is: how do they compare as bowlers? With both of them at 434 wickets, this is perhaps as good a time as any to delve a bit deeper and compare the two great Indian bowlers, to find out why Kumble is not regarded as a bowler equal to Kapil Dev.

Hypothesis 1:

Perhaps Kumble has just equaled Kapil in the number of wickets, but he has taken longer to get there.

Wrong.

Kapil took 131 Tests to reach 434 wickets, while Kumble achieved the same feat in 90 Tests. Thus, Kumble took 30 per cent fewer Tests to reach the same point, no small difference!

Hypothesis 2:

Kapil has perhaps been a more efficient bowler, taking wickets at a lower average and a better strike rate.

Wrong again.

It cost Kapil 29.64 runs per wicket, while Kumble took each wicket by conceding 28.17 runs, more than one run less than Kapil. It isn't a big difference, but it shows that Kumble has actually been less expensive than Kapil.

As far as strike rate is concerned, Kapil took about 64 balls to get a wicket, while Kumble took 66, just two balls more. In fact, if you compare Kapil against other great fast bowlers, his strike rate compares poorly.

Waqar Younis took a wicket every 44 balls, for example. Spinners generally are seen to have a poorer strike rate, with both Warne and Muralitharan having strike rates of 59.6 and 58.5 respectively. Therefore, compared to his ilk Kumble has a better strike rate than Kapil compared to his peers.

Hypothesis 3:

Maybe Kumble just got the tail-enders out, unable to get rid of the best batsmen like Kapil did.

Not quite.

In an earlier article on the subject of bowling quality, I had analyzed the quality of dismissals for leading wicket-takers across the cricketing world. The batsmen that Kapil dismissed had batting averages of 29.81, while Kumble's dismissals had batting averages of 28.33, a very minor difference indeed. So, Kumble has gotten rid of batsmen of almost the same quality as has Kapil.

Hypothesis 4:

Perhaps Kumble has not been as consistent as Kapil has, in taking wickets for India.

Wrong, this time completely.

In 50 per cent of innings in which Kapil bowled, he either went wicketless or got 1 wicket. Kumble did so about 33 per cent of times. Almost 50 per cent of the times, Kumble got 2-4 wickets in an innings, while Kapil managed it about 40 per cent of times. And finally, Kumble got 5 wickets or more in 18 per cent of his innings, with Kapil doing so in only 10 per cent of his. So, Kumble has been far, far more consistent in getting wickets for India.

Hypothesis 5:

This is getting difficult to believe. Yes, the only explanation is that Kumble is a tiger at home alone, and it is his record at home that makes him look so good. Kumble is far more inconsistent than Kapil in Away Tests.

Surprisingly, wrong again!

While their wickets distribution is closer in Away matches as compared to overall performance, Kumble is still a more consistent bowler. The only point against Kumble's favor is that it cost him about four runs more than it did Kapil to pick up each wicket in Away Tests.

Hypothesis 6:

Maybe their bowling statistics are similar and maybe Kumble actually seems a bit better that way. But he hasn't won matches for India as Kapil has.

Good guess. Wrong again.

Kapil won 24 of his 131 Tests, about 18%. Kumble has won 28 of his 90 Tests, about 31%. So, Kumble has participated in far more victories than has Kapil.

Fine, but has he contributed to those wins?

Kumble took 5 wickets in an innings in 15 of those 28 victorious matches, at a rate of about 53%. Kapil took five wickets only in 3 of the 24 Indian victories that he participated in, about 12%.

Let's summarize what we have just established about Anil Kumble vis-à-vis Kapil Dev.

1) Kumble has taken the same number of wickets as Kapil has, in 30% fewer Tests

2) It has cost Kumble less runs per wicket than it has cost Kapil. Kumble has taken about two balls more per wicket, but that is in line with spinners having a poorer strike rate as compared to fast bowlers.

3) There isn't a significant difference between the quality of batsmen that Kumble has dismissed compared to Kapil.

4) Kumble has been far, far more consistent in taking wickets for India than Kapil has. He has shown a much greater propensity to take 2 or more wickets than has Kapil. This is true in home and away matches, although the difference between them in away matches is less than in home matches. Yes, Kumble has given four runs per wicket more than Kapil has in away matches

5)  Kumble has participated in twice as many Indian victories (as %), and has taken 5 wickets in an innings in more than half of those victories. Kapil has taken 5 wickets in only about 12% of the Indian victories that he has participated in.

No matter which way you slice the numbers, it is abundantly - and surprisingly – clear that Kumble has been the more consistent, less expensive, more productive bowler of the two, who has contributed significantly more in Indian victories than has Kapil. Simply put, in his long career, Kumble has been a superior bowler.

Why has India's greatest bowler ever not got the kind of attention he deserves? Why is Kapil so revered even as a bowler, compared to Kumble? The reasons could be many, some fair, others not as much.

We view greatness in sports not just by numbers, but also by the impact that the sportsman has left on the game. Gavaskar is great even besides his statistics, for the simple reason that he was the first Indian cricketer to earn worldwide respect of his peers. He perhaps assured a young Tendulkar that an Indian with talent and discipline can become world-class. Kapil Dev proved to his Indian fans that you did not need to be a spinner to be a successful Indian bowler.

Before Kapil came on the scene, no Indian would have imagined an Indian pacer becoming a potent bowling weapon. He altered our thinking and spawned a line of talent like Srinath, Agarkar, Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan. Sachin Tendulkar has achieved greatness because he became the first Indian to instill fear in his opposition, and to get absolute praise and adulation from his peers. No Indian has been revered by foreign cricketers and crowds as much as Tendulkar has.

Unfortunately, Kumble brought little new to the Indian cricketing world. He carried the tradition of Indian spin talent, but did nothing special as compared to the great spin quartet of the 60s. He went about his way taking wickets and winning matches for India, without getting noticed very much.

Also, Kumble as a cricketer has contributed little outside his main domain of bowling. Kapil, as explained earlier, was a good batsman and fielder besides being an above-average captain. Kumble on the other hand, is an awkward batsman, below average fielder and a downright poor runner between the wickets. He has never shown any abilities to lead his team. He rarely inspires others to perform better. In fact, he has unfairly stringent expectations from fielders when he is bowling, mindless of his own lack of capability in fielding when his team-mates are bowling. He has rarely been able to project himself as a leader who can comment on the state of a match, qualify his team's performance or analyze an opposition.

And finally, in cricket as in other aspects of life, we need to package our capabilities in a visible and favorable manner for us to be recognized. Just being capable is not good enough. Kumble is a weak marketer of his own capabilities. Here is a person who has become the highest wicket-taker for India, is among the top 5 wicket-takers in the world and has the 3rd highest number of 5-wicket hauls behind Murali and Hadlee. Yet few cricket lovers would know of these records, not just across the world but even in his own country.

Be that as it may, we need to isolate aspects of a cricketer's contribution. As a bowler, Kumble has been superior to any other Indian. We need to recalibrate our view of Kumble, and given him credit where he deserves it. When we rank our bowlers of all time, Anil Kumble deserves no place other than at the very top. And by virtue of this qualification, he should also be regarded in the same elite group of Indian greats: Gavaskar, Kapil and Tendulkar.

We need to correct his current stature as the most ignored champion of all time!

Subodh S. Chitre can be reached at subodh.chitre@gmail.com