Kumble surpasses Courtney's haul of 519 wickets

St Lucia, June 12 (UNI) Anil Kumble reached another personal milestone when he surpassed Courtney Walsh's Test haul of 519 wickets.

Kumble took three wickets in the first innings of the second test against West Indies to reach figures of 520 test wickets. Kumble is now fourth on all time highest wicket-taker lists led by Shane Warne. Warne (685), Muralitharan (635) and MGrath (542) are ahead of Kumble.

''Walsh was there ahead of me at 519, it feels good that I crossed such a big player. But landmarks come in career, more important is to win tomorrow. We came pretty close to winning last test, we had to get only one wicket. We have to makes sure we do it this time, we have two more days to get the 9 wickets,'' said Kumble.

Kumble said that as the most experienced bowler in the side it was important for him to lead the attack. "I look at myself as a key member of the side.

With this much experience, I feel the pressure to perform is on everybody, more so on me. It's important for me to lead the way and I am happy that so far has been good but it is important to comeback tomorrow and take the 9 remaining wickets,'' said Kumble.

Kumble said that India were in a commanding position and the team expected to win from here. ''The ball will be up and down tomorrow. We expect to win from this position. We bowled very well, bowled in the right areas and kept up the pressure.

It's important to vary the pace and try and bowl according to conditions and hopefully we will do it,'' said the leg spinner.

Anil also said that h was not surprised at seeing Lara batting at number three in the second innings. ''Lara is a key member of the side and I am not surprised that he came at number three. We have to get him out early whatever position he comes to bat, hopefully we would do that early tomorrow,'' said Kumble.

West Indies opener Darren Ganga also praised Kumble for tight bowling. ''He is a class bowler, a guy with 520 wickets is definitely a challenge. He is very consistent with length, he bowls a lot straighter than other spinners.'' ''He bowls straighter so he definitely brings in a lot of factors like lbw and caught behind. As against lots of leg spinner who bowl off stump or outside off stump line, he bowls straighter so there are more deliveries to play, I think that's why he is so successful,'' said Ganga.

Ganga also said the pitch was getting very difficult to bat on, but his team was playing for a draw. ''It is very difficult to bat, the pace and bounce is inconsistent. It is also assisting the spinners so it requires a lot of application and concentration.'' ''But I think we have got capable batsmen in the team to do that. It's important to play one session at a time, there are two more days, all we can do in this test is to salvage a draw," said Ganga.

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