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Kumble's middle path to greatness
Anil Kumble has chosen that path for more than a decade and achieved plaudits after equalling Kapil Dev's Indian record of 434 Test wickets.
In the world of spin dominated by Shane Warne's ripping leg breaks and Muttiah Muralitharan's prodigious off-spinners, the only path left for any contemporary wanting to make his own mark is down the middle.
India's leg spinner Anil Kumble has chosen that path for more than a decade and achieved plaudits after equalling Kapil Dev's Indian record of 434 Test wickets on Thursday.
The tall bowler operates almost at slow medium but subtle variations, unerring accuracy and mastery on crumbling pitches have established him as an enduring match-winner.
Kumble, 34, is behind his two high-profile contemporaries on figures. Australian Warne has pegged the world mark at 552 wickets and Sri Lanka's Muralitharan is second overall at 532.
Warne produced the 'ball of the century' with his first delivery of the 1992-93 Ashes tour, bowling Mike Gatting round his legs.
Muralitharan's best was exemplified by his monster off-break to Indian left-hander Sadagopan Ramesh in 2001, pitching outside leg to clip the off-bail.
Kumble's art has been more about setting up batsmen, a classic example coming against Salim Malik in 1999, when he emulated England's Jim Laker by claiming all 10 second-innings wickets for a series-levelling win over Pakistan in New Delhi.
He fed a short ball to be promptly pulled for four, but foxed Malik as he tried to repeat the shot with one pitched a shade farther with lower bounce to knock back middle stump.
