It was as if destiny was teasing him, dangling the prize in front of him and snatching it off, testing his patience, assuring his class.
A man who had taken five wickets in an innings 31 times in his career had to wait through the agonizing gloom in Mohali for two days to finally reach his destination.
Anil Kumble entered the second Test against England at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium, set at the foothills of the lofty Shivaliks, on the threshold of a rare landmark. Only four men before him had attained that glory, taken more than 500 wickets. Kumble stood at 496.
He began his quest with tenacity, keeping the batsmen guessing on a bare, dry first-day wicket. Having bowled 32781 deliveries before that, through memory and sheer class, he hit the right line and length immediately.
It is difficult to set Kumble in a mould. With the bounciest run-up for a spinner in international cricket, the leg-spinner has long been criticized for not turning the ball enough. As it was, he got his first wicket, that of Ian Bell, with a googly that turned a long way to clip the bails.
His next wicket, 498th, came through a ripping leg-break. Paul Collingwood played down the wrong line, as the ball crashed into his middle-stump.
Kumble gave India its proudest and bravest moment on the cricket field in recent times. In 1999, he made a dusty afternoon at Delhi's Kotla immortal by ripping through the Pakistan batting order, claiming all ten wickets in an innings in less than two sessions of play.
Three years later, he let the fire within manifest blatantly.
Having taken a face blow by a rising Mervyn Dillon delivery, he still took field in Antigua. He braved the pain, bandaged the fractured jaw, came out to bowl and got the scalp of Brian Lara.
But it isn't these overt heroics, as much as the long tiring spells and endless commitment, that makes Kumble the bowler or the man that he is. It is only a timely reminder that we have a performer among us who has outdone the talent he was born with and emerged India's biggest match winner at home.
His customary perseverance was brought into full measure during the nine overs he bowled on the third morning of the Mohali Test. After waiting through a day of bad light and persistent showers, he opened the attack on Saturday.
It was a morning of pad thrusts, fine edges, scratchy sweeps, near misses and growing sense of anxiety. Every ball he bowled had the crowd hanging in anticipation. The mega-screen kept flashing that Kumble was now two wickets away from attaining the 500 mark.
Rahul Dravid handed the ball to him over after over, letting him work his way, letting him weave the magic all over again. The straying leg-stump deliveries were forgotten, the faith reinforced. But Kumble went through the first spell wicketless: 9-0-32-0.
The leg-spinner returned in the afternoon; the first ball turned away from the batsman with a zip. The feeling on inevitability was sinking in. In the second over, he bowled Geraint Jones on ball one and trapped Stephen Harmison leg before wicket on ball two. It took only two balls for him to enter the record books and join Courtney Walsh, Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan and Glenn McGrath in an exclusive club.
Even after that he didn't let the mind crowd. India were still one wicket away from finishing the innings and, fittingly, it was Kumble who did the honours. He induced an edge from Monty Panesar, who was caught by old ally Rahul Dravid at first slip.
Kumble returned to the pavilion in his 105th Test amidst celebrations from the team and crowds. But the man himself, who has carried success and failure with equal dignity, only accepted a few high-fives, sported a small smile and held up the ball to the crowd. Destiny was finally his.
