Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir reckons that Anil Kumble would have ended with 1000 wickets if the Decision Review System was in place earlier. Kumble finished his Test career with 619 scalps and he is regarded as one of India’s biggest match-winners.
Meanwhile, recently former Indian talisman batsman Yuvraj Singh had raised question marks on the Ahmedabad pitch in the third Test match against England. Singh had stated that if such pitches were used in earlier times, then Anil Kumble would have bagged 1000 wickets whereas Harbhajan would have finished with 800 wickets.
Gambhir agrees with his former teammate, Yuvraj Singh but not on the basis of pitch conditions. Meanwhile, the DRS was first introduced back in 2008 in the match between India and Sri Lanka. However, Anil Kumble played his last Test against Australia back in October 2008.
Kumble was known to bowl accurately at the stumps and got the lion’s share of his dismissals through LBW and bowled. Out of Kumble’s 619 wickets, 156 were taken via LBW, in which 136 were right-handed batsmen and the remaining 20 were left-handers. There is no doubt that Kumble missed out on a lot of wickets due to umpiring glitches.
Kumble was not known to turn a ball by a big margin but he used to consistently bowl in one area to get the most of his wickets. On the other hand, Gambhir feels Harbhajan Singh, who has 417 wickets in his Test career of 103 Test matches, would have finished with 700 wickets if the DRS was in use earlier.
“Yes, wickets are different today but DRS today plays a huge role. Had there been DRS when Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh was bowling, Kumble would have gone to 1000 wickets and Harbhajan would have got around 700 wickets because DRS plays a massive role especially in India where there are a lot of inside edges, or bat pads and stuff,” Gambhir said on the ‘Runorder’ show on ESPNCricinfo when asked if he agrees with Yuvraj’s tweet.
On the other hand, Gambhir added that Ashwin is under more pressure to perform in favourable conditions as he doesn’t ask for pitches like these.
“From that point of view, I do agree with Yuvraj Singh, but from the point of view that had they played on these kinds of pitches, probably not. Because see, wickets have been the same for everyone. Ashwin doesn’t ask for these kinds of wickets, it’s the team management that asks for it. And when you prepare such wickets, Ashwin is under more pressure to deliver,” Gambhir added.
Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh are two of the best spinners produced by the Indian team whereas Ravichandran Ashwin has also joined the 400-wicket club. The fourth Test will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad from March 4.
