On This Day: Anil Kumble produces magic with the bat; scores maiden Test ton

The Dream Team - Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Greatest team of all times. But what would a team composed of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble, and Sourav Ganguly be called? Cricket's Dream Team? 

This tale is about the cricketing version of Magic Johnson, Anil Kumble. Just like Johnson, Kumble was the sharpest player, the greatest match winner and most importantly, a student of the game. 

No player has won games like Johnson and Kumble did. The only difference between these two match-winners is, the former won five NBA titles but the latter could never even play a World Cup Final.

This is about the happiest moment of Kumble's superlative career. Not the 10 for 74 at Kotla in Delhi. But his maiden and the only Test century that came up at the Oval on August 10, 2007. 

In 2007, India toured the United Kingdom to play a three-match series against Michael Vaughan’s side. Rahul Dravid led the Indian team to a famous series win against England, which came after 21 years. 

The Oval Test was the third match and Kumble starred both with bat and ball in this fixture. The leg-spinner went past Glenn McGrath's 563 wickets, but the happiest moment came earlier in the game.

Kumble always had the batting caliber, and his seven first-class tons were an instance of the same. His batting had it all, from those front-foot drives to square cuts to backward blocks, but somehow he could never convert his fifties into a three-figure mark. However, at the age of 36 years and 297 days, the legendary leg-spinner became the oldest Indian to score a maiden hundred in his 118th Test match. 

Coming into this game, India had a 1-0 lead which already made the series historic and Kumble’s ton was cherry on top. He came out to bat before Lunch on Day 2 when India were at 417-6. The number 417 itself tells how every batter would have piled up runs. Dinesh Karthik, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and MS Dhoni had notched up individual fifties but Kumble’s knock was something special. 

He started his show by square cutting Chris Tremlett and playing an inside out to Monty Panesar. However, the number eight had to let his chips down for a while, as Dhoni was going berserk at the other end. When the latter was dismissed, after playing one of too many shots, Kumble took over. 

The senior pro was then accompanied by Zaheer Khan, RP Singh and S Sreesanth, and they all played a healthy hand. To reach the feat, Kumble kept rushing down to the spinner, while playing some scintillating shots through covers, point and gully off fast bowlers. When Zaheer was dismissed, the spinner was at 67 and Singh left him strangled on 76. 

Sreesanth came into the game on the back of batting heroics as he saved the Lord's match alongside MSD. He played some lusty blows, but when the senior pro was nearing his milestone, the seamer just put his head down. 

English players had already thrown their caps in disgust and Vaughan was tearing his hair out. Seeing their desperation, Kumble didn't take too long to make history. He played an inside-out to Panesar to get to 91 and then two overs later, he cut one for a boundary off KP to get to 97. 

The moment of glory arrived after two balls as the Indian under-edged KP to get to the hallmark. 

As the 36-year-old got to the three-figure mark, he just took off his helmet and raised his bat and both arms with the widest smile on his face and let his emotions pour out in front of the full-packed Oval house. Emotions got the better of Kumble for a minute or so. But the professional spinner became a thorough competitor when he got the ball in hand. 

The leggie took three wickets in the first innings and two more in the second as bowled his heart out. The centurion of the game was getting all fumed as the game was rushing towards a draw. But the gentleman in Kumble shook hands with the opposition in swank, after bowling the last ball of the match.

(Written by Arjun Bhalla)