Devika Vaidya, an all-around spin bowler for India, recently shared her story of meeting the renowned leg-spinner Anil Kumble when she was a teenager. Vaidya spoke candidly about her conversation with Kumble and shared how his humility astounded her.
“In 2014, I was playing Under-19s and just got selected in the senior inter-zonal, so one of my dad’s colleagues told us that he would introduce us to Anil Kumble. My parents were not expecting Mr. Anil Kumble would sit with us and talk with us – he almost sat with us for 2 hours. I had taken some small clippings of my bowling and some clips of my batting to show him,” Vaidya said on Jio Cinema’s new daily show ‘#AAKASHVANI,’ hosted by former India cricketer Aakash Chopra.
Vaidya further said that Kumble told her to never change her action no matter what others said. “He watched all my videos, he did not miss a single clip. He also gave me some bowling tips such as how to use a straighter, and flipper, and about leg-spin. I have a slightly different action compared to a leg spinner action, so he was telling me that if someone told you to change your action, then just show your leg turn and just never change your action, but you have to get smarter,” she added.
She further revealed the advice that the legendary Indian bowler gave her telling her to use variations properly and keep the batter guessing. “You have to keep the batsman guessing as to which delivery you are going to bowl now. You have to use variations properly, so work smartly. So, even though I was young back then, in 2014, almost 9 years ago, I haven’t forgotten that conversation because it was short and to the point, and the points he told me to follow are still useful to me, and I believe they will be useful in the future as well,” she further said.
