After witnessing Anil Kumble complete his 500-wicket haul at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium in Mohali on Saturday, Bishen Singh Bedi labelled the leg spinner "Poor man's Superman".
"Everyone talks about Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, but this is a great achievement," said the left-arm spinner, who Kumble had overtaken to become the most successful Indian spinner.
"Taking 500 wickets is almost equal to scoring 15,000 runs."
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"But that in itself is an achievement. He has tremendous cricketing discipline. The three players who have made the biggest impact on Indian cricket recently are Kumble, [Rahul] Dravid and Tendulkar. All of them are very good students of the game, but I think Kumble has the best cricketing intellect.
"You can chase perfection but you can't catch it. What happened in Kumble's case was that while chasing perfection he achieved excellence. He knew he had a weakness but he worked hard on it and conquered it. That kind of will power is a god's gift, you can practice it."
Bedi believes the kind of personal and physical problems Kumble overcame during his career wouldn't be possible for an ordinary mortal. But he hung in there, and is now reaping the rewards.
"It couldn't have happened to a better person," said Bedi about the Bangalore spinner's feat. "If there was one word to sum up Kumble's career it is courage."
Kumble took three wickets in the 104th over, completing his tally of 500 wickets with the scalp of Stephen Harmison. The leg-spinner helped India bowl England out for 300, the visitors adding only 100 runs for the exchange of five wickets on the third morning of the second Test.
"I hope India win this Test," Bedi added. "They should try and win it as a tribute to Kumble."
