Kumble undergoes surgery

A team of dental specialists successfully operated upon the fractured jaw of Anil Kumble on Thursday. They said the ace leg spinner is 'feeling absolutely fine' and could get back to international cricket action as early as next week.

"Anil is absolutely fine and he is feeling better. He can get back into cricket action in eight to ten days," Dr Kishore Nayak, a leading oral and maxillo-facial surgeon, who performed the 45-minute surgery on Thursday morning along with another doctor, Sanjiv Nair, said.

The doctors inserted two titanium plates to hold Kumble's jaw together. They said the bowler would be discharged from hospital on Friday morning.

"There is no scar. He will start taking semisolid food from tomorrow," Nayak added.

The bowler sustained a fracture on his lower jaw during the fourth Test against the West Indies on Saturday, when a delivery from Mervyn Dillon hit him. He flew back to his home town Bangalore on Wednesday.

Despite the fractured jaw, he, however, bowled 14 overs unchanged and bagged the prized wicket of West Indies great Brian Lara.

Also read:
- 'Kumble could've won the match for us': Ganguly
- 'Not disheartened. It's part of the game': Kumble
- I wanted to leave after trying my best: Kumble
- Kumble to undergo surgery on Wednesday
- Kumble's wife not surprised by husband's heroics
- Gavaskar applauds Kumble's valiant effort
- Fractured jaw rules Kumble out of Antigua Test
- Courageous Kumble steels his jaw, pushes Windies on the defensive

Mail Cricket Editor