Not only did Anil Kumble take the field with a broken jaw, he bowled like a champion against West Indies' best batsman. Kumble is generally known to prefer bowling to right-handers, but today he saved his best for Brian Lara. Out of the 17 deliveries he bowled to Lara, 16 were on good length and one was short, which means Lara didn't get a single opportunity to plonk out his front foot and drive for easy runs. Sixteen balls were on middle stump or further off side, denying Lara the chance to work the ball to leg.

Lara got just two runs from 17 balls off Kumble, and wasn't in control of five of those deliveries – that is, he played-and-missed, edged or was rapped on the pads almost twice every over. Ramnaresh Sarwan, on the other hand, was far more assured in the 36 balls he played from Kumble. He scored 13 and had an in-control factor of 91.6%.

Overall, Kumble was on a good length only 67% of the time, but the excellent start to his spell ensured that West Indies were pegged on to the back foot. Had he been a little luckier, he might well have had the prized scalp of Carl Hooper too.

S Rajesh is sub editor of Wisden.com India.

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