Most athletes retire and start sweating. They spent twenty years mastering cover drives but never learned Excel. Kumble went from writing engineering exams to taking 619 Test wickets. Then he built companies that put computers inside cricket bats.
I learned something here. The backup plan is not a sign of doubt. It is a license to take risks.
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1. The Safety Net That Became a Trampoline
You have to understand South Bengaluru in the 1980s. Middle-class families there did not dream about cricket. They dreamt about BEML jobs and “settled life.” Kumble’s parents were no different. His father Krishna Swamy and mother Saroja ran a household where marksheets mattered more than match figures.
Kumble studied at Holy Saint English School, then National High School Basavanagudi. In 1989, while his classmates worried about CET rankings, he made his first-class debut for Karnataka. He simultaneously managed the rigours of an engineering curriculum.
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In the summer of 1990, he got a call for his India debut against England. He was thinking about supplementary exams while bowling to Graham Gooch. He passed both.
I realized something. When you know you can always go back to a nine-to-five existence, you stop fearing failure. This is not about having a Plan B. It is about knowing that Plan A is a choice, not a trap.
2. Copying Others Is Self-Sabotage
Shane Warne was an artist. Murali was a magician. Kumble was a mechanical engineer. He calculated angles, trajectories, and impact points. He did not spin the ball through the air. He spun it off the pitch with pace and bounce. People called his bowling “ugly.” He called it efficient.
In 1996-97, the critics got louder. They said he could not succeed outside India without a proper googly. So he went to Chennai and rebuilt his action under VV Kumar. Learned orthodox leg-spin. Bowled like a different person.
Then came the Irani Trophy match where he ditched everything and went back to his old style. Took seven wickets.
I learned something from this. Copying others is not improvement. It is self-sabotage. Kumble tried to become a traditional leg spinner. It did not work. He went back to being Kumble. That is when he became great.
3. Pain Is Data
May 2002. Antigua. Mervyn Dillon’s bouncer shattered Kumble’s jaw. The doctors wired it shut. But India was struggling. He saw the scoreboard from the hospital and made a decision that defines him.
He returned to the field. Bandages wrapped around his head like a wounded soldier. Bowled 14 overs straight and dismissed Brian Lara. He did not flinch.
I used to think this was just bravery. Then I heard how Kumble uses this story in boardrooms now. He tells startup founders that leadership is not about designation. It is about how you view your place in the machine. Pain is data. You can either process it or let it crash your system. He chose to process.
What struck me that same discipline that gets you through a broken jaw gets you through a broken business model. You do not stop. You adjust.
4. Make Others Want to Give You the Ball
February 1999. Delhi Test against Pakistan. Ten wickets in an innings. A record.
But Kumble tells a different story. He talks about Javagal Srinath. The fast bowler who deliberately bowled wide in the final overs to give Kumble the tenth wicket. Srinath could have taken it himself. No one would have noticed. But he created space for his teammate to make history.
This is how Kumble defines excellence. Not as individual glory. As the sweat that happens between matches. As the alignment of a team toward one impossible goal.
Leadership is not about taking the ball. It is about making others want to give you the ball. That is a lesson most managers never learn.
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5. Solve the Problem You Suffered
In 2010, Kumble started Tenvic. The name is not subtle. Ten wickets. Ten W. His entire cricketing identity compressed into one brand. But the mission is broader than cricket.
Tenvic does three things. First, it helps current athletes stay in school. Second, it trains retired athletes to become coaches and managers. Third, it gets regular kids off their phones and onto playing fields. By 2025, they had reached 80,000 children. Signed deals with schools across India.
He also started Tenvic Retail in 2012. Tenvic sells equipment. Solves the problem he faced as a kid; good gear is hard to find.
I learned something here. The best businesses are not built on what you know. They are built on what you suffered. Kumble did not build Tenvic because he saw a market opportunity. He built it because he remembered what it felt like to be a kid with talent and no coach.
6. Make the Technology Invisible
2017. Kumble co-founded Spektacom with Gaurav Manchanda. If Tenvic is the heart, Spektacom is the brain. They make a sticker. Not any sticker. A sensor-loaded sticker that goes on a bat’s shoulder.
The PowerBat measures bat speed, power in “Power Speks,” impact location, and twist. Partners with Microsoft. Uses Azure cloud. Broadcasters like Star Sports get the data live. The tech was first tried out in the 2018 TNPL. The idea is simple. Bring fans closer to the game. Make watching feel a bit more lived-in, a bit more real.
The sticker weighs nothing. Players are picky about their bats. They would rather retire than add weight. So Kumble made it invisible.
I realized that is what engineering thinking looks like. You do not ask people to change their habits. You change the technology so they do not have to.
7. Pick Problems You Understand
Kumble does not just run his companies. He invests in others. In 2022 alone, he backed three startups.
Onsurity provides health insurance to gig workers. He advises them on mental wellness. Shaka Harry makes plant-based meat. Kumble cares about wildlife conservation. Garuda Aerospace builds drones. MS Dhoni is also an investor. Kumble likes solving logistical nightmares. Drones spray crops and help in disasters.
He does not write checks for fame. He picks problems he understands. Then he helps them with his network. That is what strategic advisor means. It is not a title. It is unpaid labour.
8 Do Not Sell Fame. Sell Process.
Kumble’s net worth is said to be around $11 million. Roughly 92 crores, built across cricket, entrepreneurship, and advisory work. We have not confirmed this number independently. But we can say for sure that he is as solid financially, as he was a bowler for India.
He earns as commentator. Brands pay him decent amount per endorsement. He does not sell soda. He sells insurance and software. Companies trust him. His brand value is built on boring words like consistency and integrity. He also charges a fee for speaking.
Agencies like Simply Life India book him for corporate events. He talks about management and innovation. Schools book him too. He is perhaps more affordable than a McKinsey consultant, but a lot more credible perhaps.
Most athletes sell their fame. Kumble sold his process. He never stopped being an engineer. He just changed the problems. From “how to get Brian Lara out with a broken jaw” to “how to put a sensor on a bat without changing its weight.”
9 The Game Must Still Be Played, Not Computed
Kumble thinks AI in cricket is still playing gully cricket. It has not reached the Ranji level yet. He wants to use Spektacom data for real-time predictions. In T20s, every ball is a pattern. If a bowler bowls three yorkers, what comes next? If a batsman shuffles twice, what shot follows?
He wants to build algorithms that answer these questions live. Give teams a competitive edge that feels like cheating but is just math. But he also wants protocols. He does not want technology to kill the human element. The game must still be played, not computed.
The learning here is Technology should make the game more human, not less. That is a lesson every startup founder should tattoo on their wall.
What I actually learned
I started this piece thinking I would learn how to build a business empire. I ended it learning how to build a life.
Kumble never chose between engineering and cricket. He let one protect the other. Then he worked so hard that the safety net became a trampoline.
He built an ecosystem where every part feeds the other. Tenvic creates players. Spektacom gives them data. Retail gives them gear. His investments create a healthier world for sport to exist in.
The net worth is nice. But the real number is 619 Test wickets and three companies that will outlast him. He is 55 years old. His second innings is just getting started.
The lesson for any kid in Bangalore or anywhere else is simple. Do not choose between your passions. Let one become the safety net for the other. Then work so hard that the net becomes a trampoline.
That is what Jumbo did. He jumped higher because he knew the ground was still there.
This piece is based on an original article about Anil Kumble’s business journey. Read it for the full story behind Tenvic, Spektacom, and how a mechanical engineer became India’s greatest match-winner.
