India's highest international wicket-taker Anil Kumble's batting acumen is known to all. A gutsy batsman ready to stick it out when the team needed the most, defined Kumble's batting.
However, a Test century was missing from the accolades that Kumble had garnered in his illustrious career and he finally achieved it agaisnt England at the Oval during the 2007 series.
Talking about the hundred in a chat with R Ashwin on Youtube, Kumble said it was a special inning as he had always aimed for a Test century and it finally came in his 117th match.
“The hundred certainly was very special. Because I tried it...tried, tried, tried from the first game, and I got it right in the 117th. So it was probably guesswork for me as well. Guessing what the bowler would do, and then I got all the guesswork right in the 117th Test match,” Kumble said.
The ex-India captain said his teammates were overjoyed by his achievement and the whole balcony was celebrating the hundred.
“More than me, if you look at the balcony, my teammates were extremely happy. I think Laxman just fell off celebrating my hundred,” the off-spinner recalled.
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It wasn't easy for him to get the last few runs as India didn't have any more wickets left.
“I knew that I had the last man standing there. Sreesanth was the last man there. I had scored almost 30 runs with him. And I knew that they had taken the third or the fourth new ball, I don’t remember. So I knew that I had to get the runs and not allow Sreesanth to have strike,” he said.
“So I was trying to make sure that I go after KP and probably I stepped out too early. And KP just threw it really wide. And I had a swing. I knew I had taken the inside edge and before even Steve Bucknor thought that was byes, I put my hand up, saying I have scored my hundred,” Kumble added.
It was the first hundred in that series from India. “In fact, I was the only century-maker in that series. Which is very surprising, if you look at the kind of quality and talent that the team had,” he said.
“In fact, I made a comment before the start of the Test match. When we sat down for the team meeting, suggesting that, look, it is a bit of a disappointment that with this kind of ability in this room, we still don’t have a hundred in this series. And I didn’t realize that I had to show the great batsman of the team how to get a hundred,” he further added.
