The former India captain Anil Kumble recalled how questions over his bowling action as a teenager forced him to abandon pace bowling and unexpectedly embrace leg spin, a decision that would ultimately define his illustrious career.
Kumble revealed that he was primarily a fast bowler while playing school and club cricket before a senior player raised concerns over his action.
“One of the senior players in my club asked my coach to stop me from bowling as he felt I was bending my elbow. I honestly didn’t even realise I was bending my elbow. I was bowling the way that felt natural to me. I was around 13-14 at that time and probably not strong enough,” Kumble said while speaking on The Great Indian Cricket Show on Doordarshan.
The accusation left the young Kumble searching for an alternative just weeks before the Karnataka Under-15 selection trials. Unable to continue bowling pace, he turned to his brother for advice, who suggested trying leg spin in the hope of improving his chances of making the squad.
“Then I got a chance for the Under 15 selection trials, which were a month or two away. By then I couldn’t bowl pace because people were already saying I used to chuck. My brother told me, ‘Try leg spin, there aren’t many people, maybe you will get a look.’ I didn’t even know much about leg spin then. I had heard the name B. S. Chandrasekhar, but television was not common and I hadn’t seen him bowl in matches.”
Kumble admitted he entered the new discipline with little technical understanding and without formal coaching. Rather than learning textbook leg-spin, he improvised using the grip he already knew from bowling off-spin, teaching himself through experimentation.
“In fact, when I had first picked up a real cricket ball, I bowled off spin grip. So, when I was told to bowl leg spin, I simply used my off spin grip and tried to turn the ball and bowled leg spin. There was no coach standing beside me telling me exactly how to hold it or how to release it; I just did it. A month or two later, at the Karnataka Under 15 trials, I was selected. I went on to play for Karnataka Under 15.”
That selection marked the beginning of a remarkable journey. What started as a forced change born out of criticism eventually laid the foundation for a career that saw Kumble claim 619 Test wickets, become only the second bowler to take all 10 wickets in a Test innings, and establish himself as one of India’s greatest cricketers.
