Kumble admits Harbhajan is first choice as spinner in ODIs

New Delhi, Oct 31 (UNI) Anil Kumble may have staged a comeback to the one-day squad but the veteran leggie knows he has to live under the shadow of Harbhajan Singh, who has done well as the main spinner in the shorter version of the game.

In an interview with cricinfo.com, Kumble was dignity personified, never complaining about his spinner-number-two status in the ODI side and the leggie seemed to have come to terms with the fact.

''I've probably been the second spinner in the one-dayers for a while now, otherwise I would have played in the last World Cup, and even in the period leading up to that,'' Kumble said.

''(However,) I don't need to look at it that way. There's no first spinner or second spinner. The most important thing is that I'm a bowler, and if I'm one of the four bowlers picked on the day then I have to do a job. In one day cricket it's not really as though there's a first spinner and a second spinner, with different roles. I don't consider myself that way.

''Obviously Bhajji will be the first choice because he has been playing as the main spinner for a bit now and he has been bowling well,'' he said.

Kumble's last ODI was the match between Asian XI against and African XI in the Afro-Asia Cup in August 2005 but the leggie did not feel the lay-off made him rusty.

MORE UNI AY PM BST1416