2 Nov : Team India skipper Anil Kumble has announced he will retire after the third test against Australia ended on Sunday and will not play the fourth Test in Nagpur, which starts on Friday.
The 38-year-old is test cricket’s third-highest test wicket taker with 619 wickets, trailing only Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and Australia’s retired Shane Warne.
"(Kumble) has conveyed his decision to the Delhi association president that he will retire after the game and will make his formal announcement after the match," an official said. The spin bowler has been the team’s bowling lynchpin for almost two decades, and the architect of India’s dominance on slow home pitches, relying more on subtle variations than sharp turn.
He has also taken 337 wickets from 271 one-day internationals and has already quit the shorter form of the game.Wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the limited-overs captain and Kumble’s deputy, is favoured to take over the job.
Kumble, who has played 132 tests, had been facing mounting questions over his future and missed the second test against the Aussies in Mohali due to a shoulder injury.
He also suffered a finger injury in the current test, which ends in Delhi on Sunday, and only returned to bowl after having 11 stitches.In 1999, Kumble became only the second bowler in test cricket to claim all 10 wickets in an innings, emulating England’s Jim Laker at the same Ferozshah Kotla ground.
Kumble’s retirement comes after former skipper Saurav Ganguly announced the current Australia test series would be his last.The team’s senior cricketers have come under increasing pressure with domestic media engaged in frenzied debate whether they should step aside to help blood younger players.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been named India’s captain for the Nagpur Test against Australia following the decision of Anil Kumble to retire from international cricket.
India needs to win or force a draw at the fourth and the final test being played at Nagpur to win the Border Gavaskar series.
Chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth told journalists at the end of the third Test match today that Dhoni would also captain the team in seven ODIs against England later this month and a decision will be taken on the two-Test series against England before it starts.