So, it's official at last. Anil Kumble is out of the game for the next four months. BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele has announced that Kumble will be operated on by South African orthopaedic surgeon Mark Fergusson in Johannesburg on Wednesday. The 30-year-old leg spinner has been rendered hors de combat since the opening game of the Coca Cola Champions Trophy in Sharjah against Sri Lanka on October 20.

In that game, he aggravated a right shoulder injury, caused by a fall several months earlier, which had not been allowed to heal due to constant activity. With the symptoms of pain and stiffness felt during bowling and throwing not subsiding, Kumble flew to South Africa last week for consultation with Fergusson, the surgeon who treated Javagal Srinath and Ajit Agarkar, also for shoulder problems.

Indian coach John Wright, who returned to India on Sunday, reacted with disappointment to the news in Mumbai. The news is a huge setback to India's chances against Australia in the three match Test series which takes off on February 27. To put India's dependence on Kumble in perspective, one just has to recall the last Australian visit to India exactly three years ago. India won 2-1 and who was their matchwinner? If you thought Sachin Tendulkar, think again. It takes twenty opposition wickets to win a Test match. On that tour Kumble took 23 at 18.26 in three Tests while seven other bowlers put together took 27. Amidst the carnage wreaked by Tendulkar and Co., perhaps the most defining contribution was Kumble's.

So where does that leave the Indians? Right behind the eight ball, one would imagine. There is hardly any other spinner in the land who inspires a fraction of the confidence Kumble does. The options before the selectors are limited. Left armers Sunil Joshi and Murali Kartik and off spinner Sharandeep Singh were the three slow bowlers tried out in the three Tests this season. Sharandeep took six wickets on debut in Nagpur without really looking special but both Joshi and Kartik were disappointments.

Among the slow bowlers seen in action this domestic season, Harbhajan Singh and Sairaj Bahutule have perhaps had the best of the exchanges. The 20-year-old Harbhajan, who has played eight Tests, took a bagful of wickets in Punjab's triumphant march in the Ranji Trophy. Having been dumped from the National Cricket Academy for disciplinary reasons last June, it is unclear if he has returned into the good books of the Board.

Leg spinner Bahutule, who played seven one-dayers for India in 1997-98, missed most of last season through injury but has been in the midst of a satisfying run with Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy zonal league. Whether he is still too early on the comeback trail is debatable. By the time the Aussies arrive, he should have had the benefit of a full complement of games in the Duleep Trophy. His fellow leg spinner WD Balaji Rao has also been reasonably successful for Tamil Nadu but suffers the disadvantage of not being in the Duleep squad.

And then, 19-year-old Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan has been getting under the skin of the visiting English colts, but again Test cricket might be too great a gap for him to bridge, especially with limited first class experience. There is also the option of veteran left armer Venkatapathy Raju who was Kumble's spin twin the last time the Aussies came visiting. He did not enjoy the greatest of series, scalping 7 wickets at 42.42. But he bowled at a niggardly rate right through and kept things tight for Kumble at the other end, which may have played a significant part in the latter's own success.

The Duleep Trophy, currently underway and which will continue till February 4, is a ready reckoner of the current depth of talent, or lack of it. Besides the national selectors, coach John Wright is set to watch some of the matches, beginning with the West-South clash in Surat from January 18. But as always, the kind of wickets that have been laid out in the competition have been way too discouraging for the bowlers, and especially the slower ones, so the lessons learnt may be few.

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