Exclusive/ Republic Plenary Summit 2025: Anil Kumble Talks About Failing More Than 30,000 Times While Recalling His Biggest Achievement

Republic Plenary Summit 2025: Former Indian cricketer Anil Kumble, who is one of the greatest spinners of the game, graced the Republic Plenary Summit 2025 in New Delhi on March 6, where he spoke about how to deal with failures in life. He cited one his biggest career achievements in order to back his remark. While speaking on the bright possibilities of achieving the dream of limitless India, the 54-year-old said that playing sports is the best part of life as it has the capability to give the biggest life lessons.

ALSO READ: David Miller Creates History In Champions Trophy, Etches Name In Record Books Amid South Africa's CT 2025 Exit

Anil Kumble Opens Up On Dealing With Failures In Life

While speaking at the Republic Plenary Summit 2025 at Bharat Mandapam, Kumble opened up about one of his career milestones and said that he had to bowl more than 40,000 deliveries to achieve the landmark of bagging more than 600 wickets in Test cricket. He added that sports is a wonderful way to live life, but there are ups and downs. The legendary spinner shared insights for limitless India, saying that sports teach that in the end, everything works out.

"Play a sport, that is the best part. When you play, there will be a result. You learn from a loss, but you have the chance to start from scratch again. You learn and go on to the next stage. Sport is a wonderful way to live life. It is not all hunky and dory, there ups and lows. You learn to live with it. You learn to adapt. People talk about the 600+ wickets and tell me that I am on the top. But I have had to bowl more than 40,000 deliveries. Eventually, things work out, and sports teaches you that. Sweat it out, and the stress goes away," Kumble said at the Republic Plenary Summit 2025.

Apart from Kumble, other celebrities like Ranveer Brar, Ricky Kej, Union Ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia, Hardeep Singh Puri, Nitin Gadkari , and others took part in the summit which was one of its kind. Even though he was a full-time bowler, Kumble was also known for his batting skills, with 2506 runs from 132 long-format matches. The legendary Indian spinner retired from international cricket during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2008. In 2015, Kumble was inducted in ICC's 'Hall of Fame'.

A Look At Anil Kumble's Illustrious Career

Anil Kumble made his international debut for India in the ODI format on April 25, 1990, against Sri Lanka. In the 50-over format, he played 271 matches and picked up 337 wickets at an economy rate of 4.30. Kumble, however was known for his numbers in Test cricket. The 54-year-old made his debut in the long format on August 9, 1990, and went on to play 132 matches. Kumble took 619 wickets at an economy rate of 2.69. His best figures in Test cricket was 10/74, which came against Pakistan in 1999. Kumble was the second bowler after England's Jim Laker to bag 10 wickets in a Test match inning.

ALSO READ: Rachin Ravindra Continues To Shatter Records, Emulates Sourav Ganguly With Rare Feat

All You Need To Know About The Republic Plenary Summit

The Republic Plenary Summit is proudly presented by RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, with JAC Olivol as the Co-Presenting Partner. The summit is Co-Powered by Canara Bank, Radico, Apollo Hospitals, Reliance Digital, Ravin Group, and Rungta Steel. We are honoured to have Reva University as our Knowledge Partner and Wildstone as our Hackathon Partner.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to our Associate Sponsors - BlueStar and Muthoot Finance, as well as our Prayer Partner - Parimal Agarbatti. Special thanks to our State Partners, including the Governments of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh , Assam , Haryana , and Nandini Mill.

We are also grateful to our Insurance Partner - LIC, Luxury Partner - Da Milano, Wardrobe Partner - Pall Mall, and our Literary Partner - National Book Trust.

Thank you to all our partners for their invaluable support in making this summit a success.