Anil Kumble on Thursday hailed fellow leg spinner Shane Warne as an icon, not just for spin bowlers but cricket itself and said he deserved to finish his illustrious career in style.
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"I think it's going to be a void, not just for Australia but for world cricket. I followed his bowling very closely and he's somebody I admired," said the Indian leg-spinner, acknowledging the Australian's contribution to the game.
Kumble and Warne's career have run parallel and sometimes, without the presence of each other for their teams.
When India was achieving that historic 2-1 win the epic series at home in 2001, Kumble was sitting out because of injury. When Kumble was making his phenomenonal fight for survival during the 2003-2004 trip to Australia, Warne was out due to a drug-ban.
"There was never any extra competition between us. He was trying to do his best for Australia and I was doing best for my team."
Kumble termed Warne's achievement as a rare landmark, comparing it to Fred Trueman when he went past the 300-wicket mark.
"He has had a fantastic career, like nobody had thought anyone would be able to reach 300-wicket mark after Fred Trueman achieved the milestone, same way 700 is going to be special."
Kumble though feels that the Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan could well be setting a new benchmark.
"He sure has defined a new benchmark but somebody is following his really close and Murali would change it soon."
The Indian leg-spinner felt such achievements are now possible because a lot more matches are being played these days.
"In recent times you get to play a lot of matches. It is nearly 12-14 Tests a year. Australia gets the maximum to play and with the quality they have, you always end up getting more wickets. When the team is winning it helps."
On an individual level, Kumble admired the openness with which Warne discussed his bowling style whenever the two met up to discuss their craft.
"He really has been very open about what he thinks and how he bowls. There are not many opposition bowlers who would come up and say how they bowl. This is the quality of the man we are talking about, that kind of quality very few had.
"I hope I could spin the ball like he does. I've always enjoyed meeting up with Warney and sharing word on spin bowling. That's something we always looked forward to."
Kumble said the biggest legacy Warne had left behind was that he had made a generation of young kids take up leg-spin bowling.
