Kumble represents the best of Test cricket

At various times in his career, it has been pointed out to him and he has faced it stoically. And he has rarely been undignified. Some of those virtues are considered boring but they stand the test of time. He has made an epic and long after the thirty-seconders are gone we will remember this.

Fourteen years ago, a shy man in glasses and without a passport, was first picked for India. He was an unlikely looking spinner, over six feet tall with the delivery stride of a fast bowler and he didn’t turn the ball much. It is a good quality to have but as he has happily shown it is not the only one. A huge heart, control over length, variation of pace and a terrific attitude count for much more. That is the legacy for young men who seek the end and undermine the process.

And it could so easily have been different. His first tour was followed by a year and a half in the wilderness which he wisely used to become an engineer and then set about scripting a great home record for India. The nineties belonged to him and to Sachin Tendulkar, not just to one of them and if India felt proud of itself, if the crowds thronged to test matches, it was because he was skittling out the opposition consistently.

He didn’t loop it like Prasanna, curl it like Subhash Gupte, tease a player like Bishan Bedi did but he took wickets. Sometimes we can put too much store on form and far too little on content.

I am delighted for him because I have been an unabashed fan and I stood up and applauded today and I hope all of you did as well. It is a monument he, and all of us, can be extremely proud of. 434 will fall as most things must with the passage of time and maybe 500 beckons but I don’t think he will be thinking about that today. I think he will be wondering how he can win this Test for India and that would be typical of him.

One day Michael Clarke will have a monument against his name too. He has many summers ahead of him, and the odd winter, but the seed of a fine career was sown today. I might be sticking my neck out but I think we can tell another generation that we saw Michael Clarke make his Test debut.