July 31: Team sports should be logical ground for true friendships and lifelong bonding. Sadly that is not often the case. The cricket world has seen its share of infighting and jealousy rather than respect and affability. Yet, a few strong partneships have emerged outisde the boundary. Anecdotes are numerous on the amity between Tendulkar and Kambli, Viv Richards and Ian Botham, Sangakkara and Jayawardene, to name a few. But the comradeship of the three spin legends who contributed in no small measure to enrich the glorious tradition of the game is legendary.
Anil Kumble, Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne are almost done as cricketers but continue to share a fine rapport and keep in touch. “I have had a wonderful relationship with Murali. He is a great human being and is easily approachable. After all those achievements he is grounded and carries no airs about him,” said Kumble. The two have had some stirring duels on the field only to come out with greater respect for the other.
Apart from their craft what brought the tweakers together was language. “I speak a little Tamil, the pleasantries are always exchanged in Tamil. He is one person in the international arena who one could be called any time for a response,” noted Kumble.
The three men who dominated the sport have a whopping 2,127 Test wickets between them and over the years have shared their knowledge and in turn helped each other become better exponents.
The spin triangle has had benefits outside the boundary too. “We three are great friends, we keep calling each other and speak at length. It was good of Kumble to visit the Senegama Project when I requested him in 2008. Warne had also come here and it was great advertisement for Sri Lankan cricket,” said Murali. Warne was the first to acknowledge Murali’s feat of 800 wickets on twitter. “It’s been an amazing journey and a phenomenal achievement, hats off to Murali for an outstanding career,” tweeted Warne.
Kumble could be launching a spin academy soon and where the expertise of the others could come in handy. “Anil had spoken about starting a spin academy in Bangalore, and he wanted me there to help, I will be there for him,” said Murali. “All I can say is an academy is in the pipeline. Things are at a preliminary stage. Now that Murali has retired from Test cricket, he will have some time to spare,” explained Kumble.
The respect they share is well known. Three fierce competitors who take huge pride in their performance and their face-offs have only heightened the intensity. Warne had noted previously that Kumble was a gentlemen cricketer and a extremely tough player to compete against.
Kumble was no different on what he thought about his famous contemprary. “What can one say about someone who has 800 Test wickets. Both of us played similar roles for our teams, but the fact remains that he ended up with 200 more wickets in the same number of Tests.”