Records will be broken one day or the other but more than anything else the hallmark of this gentle giant has been the attitude he has shown towards the game. No one will forget that day in Antigua six years ago when he was bowling with his jaw bandaged and even in his last test match he refused to take the general anesthesia while treating his left hand because he felt doing so might delay him from bowling in the match. That is the commitment to the game he shows! That is the fighter, he is!
Whenever Indian fans expected a win in any Test match there was one player in particular on whose shoulders a great part of their hopes used to rest on - Anil Kumble; because Test matches are not won only by runs but by taking 20 wickets. That was Jumbo's impact to Indian cricket in the last 18 years.
Having said all this, lets not forget he has still a lot to offer for Indian Cricket and Anilbhai we are looking forward to it and we are sure you wont disappoint us like you never did!

Speak for yourself. If Kumble was not one of your heros, you don't understand test cricket. You always have to bowl the opposition out. I am a bit worried for India. It will be difficult to replace Kumble of the late 90's (on Indian pitches). Ask Azharuddin who he would trust his bowl with.

Prabhu,

I have always respected Kumble and his achievements. However heroes are a step up from sportsmen who you respect. Kumble was certainly respected by all, but probably not everyone's hero, and this is certainly not wrong as we all have our own heroes who we tend to be biased towards for our own reasons. Thus to suggest that people are lacking in their understanding of Test cricket if Kumble is not their hero shows a complete lack of understanding yourself of the manner in which fans worship heroes!! My point was merely that Kumble's achievements have never been given the credit they deserve when compared to Tendulkar's, Dravid's, Ganguly's and Laxman's achievements.

You are right Avi... But of the five players whome you have suggested, I feel Tendulakar& Ganguly stole most of the limeleight, rather it was thrust on them, by the public and media. Rahul Dravid,though beleatedly got his due.He along with VVS and Viru were responsible for more Indian wins both at home and abroad. Surely Kumble stands tall amongst the five in terms of being the single handed match winner after Kapil Dev in neutral conditions. Admittedly some of Kumble's exploits have come at home on designer poitches, which has taken some sheen of his achievements in the 90's. But after 2000 he shut up all the critics with his jumbo perofrmance. No match to this gentleman...He is a real hero for the fact,in how he bounced back and showed what he is by value adding some tricks to his bowling and forced his way into the team. People may have forgotten he was dropped at the expense of Harbhajan, under Ganguy's captaincy, many times when the one spinner theory was floated...