India's greatest bowler ever

Think patience and perseverance. And then turn your attention to Indian cricket. There is one man, Anil Kumble, who instantly comes to mind.

Right from his Test debut as a bespectacled spinner who couldn't turn the ball to the new mature bowler with many slight variations, it is Kumble's tenacity that has been his trademark.

The leg-spinner's performance on the first day of the first Test against Australia is what we have come to expect of India's greatest bowler ever.

Yes, India's greatest bowler simply because of the number of matches he has single-handedly won for his team through the 1990s and even in this decade. Simply because it was largely owing to him that India's formidable home record is a reality. Simply because, when all else fails, you can count on Anil Kumble to keep going.

For starters, his performance on Day 1 was incredibly gritty. Few at the ground knew that Kumble was suffering from a mild bout of flu as he took the field. Lesser mortals might have opted out.

Kumble made his debut for India as a 19 year-old way back in 1990 immediately after the match in which England captain Graham Gooch had slammed the Indians for a record-breaking 333.

Fourteen years, 4400 overs, and a shoulder surgery later, Kumble is no longer the automatic selection. Harbhajan Singh is skipper Sourav Ganguly's first choice in Limited Overs Internationals. And Kumble was out of favour for Test matches as well.

Kumble, who hails from Bangalore, could have sulked at his omissions. Instead he chose to work harder and worked on introducing variations into his bowling. For the first time, he developed a googly and experimented with flight.

The result was that Kumble, who has an average of 37.08 playing away from home, claimed 24 wickets in three Tests, many of them with his new weapon – the googly. The Aussie batsmen had been led to believe that Kumble was a mere master of consistency, with little variation to augment it. They paid the price and lost the Adelaide Test.

Three months later, Pakistan was the venue and Kumble was the bowler helping India to make history once again. Six wickets for 71 runs on a flat pitch at Multan helped India win their first Test ever in Pakistan.

Today, he was at the forefront once again. Persistence has been his biggest strength and come what may he gives it his best. He may look clumsy in the field, out of place while holding the bat, but with a ball in his hand he is deadly.

"The Bangalore wicket on Day 1 was slow, very slow," according to the leg-spinner himself. But that didn't deter Kumble – whose ability to get bounce off even docile tracks had earned him the nickname 'Jumbo' – and he went on to take three wickets. In the process, he became only the second Indian and the ninth bowler ever to take 400 Test wickets.

His immediate goal is to "take another 35 wickets and go past Kapil Paaji".

"It is important that I can keep contributing to India's victories," he said. "Once that happens the rest will take care of itself. Being part of the 400 club is great. A win would be even sweeter."

Kapil Dev needed 131 Tests to reach 434 wickets. Kumble in 85 matches has reached 400.

Kumble's greatest strength has always been his ability to hang on when the going gets tough. Count him out and Jumbo will, without doubt, strike.