Kumble -- Down and Under

For more than a decade now, Anil Kumble has been India's premier spinner in both forms of the game.

Rarely has his place in the team been under threat, and if he was ever dropped, it made headlines everywhere. Until, that is, he was dethroned by Harbhajan Singh on the back of a spectacular home series against Australia.

Since that historic series, Harbhajan Singh has emerged as India's first-choice spinner. Kumble, however, has managed to find a place in the side. In the latest selection exercise for the tour Down Under, it was at the expense of left-arm spinner Murli Kartik.

Will Kumble be able to get the better of the Aussie batsmen? Will his experience, which the team is banking on, be good enough to aid the team's cause Down Under?

If you take the leg-spinner's record year by year, 1999 was the most productive year for him, when he grabbed 54 wickets in 10 Test matches, including the career-best figures of 10-74 against Pakistan. But his strike rate of 64.65 still left a lot to be desired. Since then, he has averaged a wicket every 60 or so balls; what has remained a saving grace is his sub-three economy rate.

Anil Kumble's Test record, by year:

Kumble has enjoyed bowling against the Englishmen, picking up 62 wickets in 13 Test matches against them. He has also picked up more than 50 wickets each against South Africa, New Zealand and the West Indies.

But South Africa have played Kumble with relative ease. A strike rate of 82.14 and an average of 31.13 against the Proteas does not rank him as a great.

Against Australia, he has managed to pick up 37 wickets in seven Test matches, but most of the wickets have come on the uneven pitches of India.

Anil Kumble's Test record by opponent:

The home and away record is the most important bit of statistics to analyse any bowler. If you take a look at Kumble's record, you cannot help asking, 'Why was he picked for the Australian tour?'

If you compare his away record to his home record, there is a huge discrepancy. At home, he has taken 235 wickets in 41 Tests at a strike rate of 56.07. But that strike rate goes zooming to 93.12 -- a wicket every 15.5 overs -- when he performs away from home, his record being 123 wickets in 37 Tests.

If India were unbeatable until recently at home, part of the credit goes to their spinners, Kumble being the foremost among them. His record at home speaks for itself -- 16 five-fors, a wicket every 56.07 deliveries, an economy rate of 2.37, and an average of 22.10 per wicket is a phenomenal performance.

But his away record pales in comparison; Kumble himself said in a recent interview that the main reason he was deemed a bad away bowler was because of how successful he has been at home.

Kumble's overall Test record (Home and away):

This much is history; the key question for the present is, will Kumble be a threat to Australian batsmen in the Test series beginning December 4?

The answer would be a resounding NO.

In the three Test matches Kumble has played in Australia, his record has been way below ordinary: five wickets at an average of 90.00 coupled with a strike rate of 175.60 just does not cut it.

The way he was manhandled by the Aussies in the recent TVS tri-series in India is another indicator that the Aussies will not face him with any great sense of trepidation.

Take a look at what confronts Kumble in Australia: In nine Tests in 2003, the Aussie batsmen have scored 5,582 runs at 4.10 runs per over. (In 2002, they scored 6,279 runs in 11 Tests at 4.00 runs per over and in 2001 they scored 8,042 runs in 14 Tests at 3.77 runs per over.)

What can you say, faced with these stats, but 'Good luck, Anil'? He will surely need all the luck going.

Kumble's record vs Australia (Home and away):