Kumble's sore shoulder, India's misery
So, it's official at last
Sankhya Krishnan
16-Jan-2001
So, it's official at last. Anil Kumble is out of the game for the next
four months. BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele has announced that Kumble will be
operated on by South African orthopaedic surgeon Mark Fergusson in
Johannesburg on Wednesday. The 30-year-old leg spinner has been rendered hors de combat since the opening game of the Coca Cola Champions Trophy in Sharjah against Sri Lanka on October 20.
In that game, he aggravated a right shoulder injury, caused by a fall several months earlier, which had not been allowed to heal due to constant activity. With the symptoms of pain and stiffness felt during bowling and throwing not subsiding, Kumble flew to South Africa last week for consultation with Fergusson, the surgeon who treated Javagal Srinath and Ajit Agarkar, also for
shoulder problems.
Indian coach John Wright, who returned to India on Sunday, reacted with disappointment to the news in Mumbai. The news is a huge setback to India's chances against Australia in the three match Test series which takes off on February 27. To put India's dependence on Kumble in perspective, one just has to recall the last Australian visit to India exactly three years ago. India won 2-1 and who was their matchwinner? If you thought Sachin Tendulkar, think
again. It takes twenty opposition wickets to win a Test match. On that
tour Kumble took 23 at 18.26 in three Tests while seven other bowlers
put together took 27. Amidst the carnage wreaked by Tendulkar and Co.,
perhaps the most defining contribution was Kumble's.
So where does that leave the Indians? Right behind the eight ball, one
would imagine. There is hardly any other spinner in the land who
inspires a fraction of the confidence Kumble does. The options before
the selectors are limited. Left armers Sunil Joshi and Murali Kartik
and off spinner Sharandeep Singh were the three slow bowlers tried out
in the three Tests this season. Sharandeep took six wickets on debut
in Nagpur without really looking special but both Joshi and Kartik
were disappointments.
Among the slow bowlers seen in action this domestic season, Harbhajan
Singh and Sairaj Bahutule have perhaps had the best of the exchanges.
The 20-year-old Harbhajan, who has played eight Tests, took a bagful
of wickets in Punjab's triumphant march in the Ranji Trophy. Having
been dumped from the National Cricket Academy for disciplinary reasons
last June, it is unclear if he has returned into the good books of the
Board.
Leg spinner Bahutule, who played seven one-dayers for India in
1997-98, missed most of last season through injury but has been in the
midst of a satisfying run with Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy zonal
league. Whether he is still too early on the comeback trail is
debatable. By the time the Aussies arrive, he should have had the
benefit of a full complement of games in the Duleep Trophy. His fellow
leg spinner WD Balaji Rao has also been reasonably successful for
Tamil Nadu but suffers the disadvantage of not being in the Duleep
squad.
And then, 19-year-old Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan has been getting under
the skin of the visiting English colts, but again Test cricket might
be too great a gap for him to bridge, especially with limited first
class experience. There is also the option of veteran left armer
Venkatapathy Raju who was Kumble's spin twin the last time the Aussies
came visiting. He did not enjoy the greatest of series, scalping 7
wickets at 42.42. But he bowled at a niggardly rate right through and
kept things tight for Kumble at the other end, which may have played a
significant part in the latter's own success.
The Duleep Trophy, currently underway and which will continue till
February 4, is a ready reckoner of the current depth of talent, or
lack of it. Besides the national selectors, coach John Wright is set
to watch some of the matches, beginning with the West-South clash in
Surat from January 18. But as always, the kind of wickets that have
been laid out in the competition have been way too discouraging for
the bowlers, and especially the slower ones, so the lessons learnt may
be few.