Among the things that went unnoticed in Anil Kumble's emotional press conference after he had bowled with a fracture in the jaw, was a little acknowledgement. "I'd really like to thank the local doctors – I pulled them out from their weekend." Dr. Raj Jammulla and his wife, Dr. Poornima Jammulla were the Indian doctors who, along with their associate, Dr. Sengupta, had treated Kumble.

It was about 9.30 on Saturday night that Kumble had got in touch with them, complaining of intense pain in the jaw. It was because of the hours spent on an ordinary painkiller for what was really a fracture in the mandible. The hospital that had taken the x-rays hadn't detected it.

"He told us there was profuse bleeding," relates Mrs. Jammulla. "He suspected a fracture, and was taken to the hospital and x-rays were taken. But they only gave him painkillers. I told my husband, `why don't you visit him and try and help him out.' But Anil was like, `I don't want to trouble you. It's already 9.30 so don't come.'"

So the next morning Mr. Jamulla went down to the Antigua Recreation Ground to see Kumble. "He had a huge swelling here. I told him to come to our practice. Ours is the only practice where you have a total x-ray for the jaw, upper and lower. We found a fracture line completely running across..."

"Fractures are of two types, simple and compound," explains Mr Jamulla. There are muscles attached to the jaw. So what happens is, when the jaw breaks, it's in two pieces, each muscle pulls one fragment. His canine and pre-molar were separated. What I did is to put a wire and brought both the fragments together.

"In the long run, there are two types of treatments. One is to fix both the upper and lower jaw with a wire. But he can't eat anything and it has to run for six weeks. The other one is called Open Reduction, where we cut it and insert a bone plate. With that treatment, you can be ready as quickly as four days."

In fact, Kumble contemplated flying to Miami for the surgery, but he didn't possess a visa for the USA. The bone-plate surgery couldn't be done in Antigua. Bangalore seemed the best option. But there was still the day's play to be negotiated.

With the wire in place, Kumble was all set to take the field. John Wright, the coach, and Andrew Leipus, the physio, were still not convinced of the decision. "I told that if Anil has to go on the field, his jaw has to be tightly shut. He cannot relax too much. He cannot appeal. If there is collision or if the ball hits him, the consequences will be unimaginable. Also, he will have to be on a liquid diet, so he might develop cramps later on. Basically we told them the pros and cons, but we left the decision to the team."

"But he kept saying this is a Test match where he has to prove something," says Mrs. Jamulla. "We decided to do it and send him to the field as soon as possible, because we also need him in the team right?"

Except for the phone calls from Antiguan doctors asking them why on earth they had to fix up a man who dismissed Brian Lara on his favourite ground, the Jamullas are quite satisfied with a good weekend at the office.

Rahul Bhattacharya is a staff writer with Wisden.com in India. His reports will appear here throughout the Test series.

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