Kumble confident of returning to action in two weeks

Bangalore, May 17: Discharged from the hospital a day after undergoing an operation for his broken lower jaw, leg spinner Anil Kumble exuded confidence of returning to action in about two weeks.

Kumble, who looked cheerful, despite the pain of the surgery, said he would start practice after a week.

He said the doctors had advised him to continue on semi-solid food for some more time to facilitate healing of surgery wounds.

Kumble, who was hit by a Mervyn Dillon delivery during the fourth Test against the West Indies, had to return home for treatment.

He was admitted to a private hospital and Dr Kishore Nayak performed a 45-minute surgery on him on Thursday. Two titanium mini-plates have been fixed to his lower jaw.

“I am feeling much better now. The doctors here gave me the best treatment," Kumble said. The leggie was full of praise for Indian team's physio Andrew Leipus. "He did a good job in bandaging the jaw to ensure that no further damage was caused," Kumble said.

He said the pain of India being forced to draw the fourth Test, despite having more than 500 runs on board, bothered him much more than the pain of a broken jaw.

He felt India could have got a result had he been able to scalp the wicket of Hooper. "Though I got him (Hooper), I had bowled a no ball," he rued.