New Delhi, A surprised Australian captain Ricky Ponting said Sunday that outgoing Indian captain Anil Kumble will go down in history books as one of the greats in modern day world cricket.

Kumble announced his retirement at the Feroz Shah Kotla here Sunday on the final day of the third Test match against Australia that ended in a draw. The 38-year-old leg spinner took the cricketing world by surprise with his decision.

"I learnt about it after the tea interval when we went out to field. Umpire Aleem Dar informed me," Ponting told reporters adding that he was surprised with the decision.

"I was a little bit surprised because with his finger injury he would have missed the next Test match in Nagpur. But with England landing here in a couple of weeks I thought he would have stayed to play that next series," he said.

The Australian captain felt that Kumble might have taken the decision after having a good long thought over the last couple of days.

Ponting paid rich tributes to the India captain saying he was one of the great opponents Australian ever faced.

"He has been a great opponent of Australia over the years. We have always enjoyed playing against him and he will go down in history as one of the modern day greats in world cricket," he said.

On the match, Ponting said that the inability of his bowlers to take 20 wickets is something that is worrying him.

"It's certainly a challenge for us. In this match, we proved that our batting is upto the scratch and we have played very well here. Now the challenge is to take 20 wickets," Ponting said.

He also hinted that rookie off-spinner Jason Krejza might replace leg-spinner Cameron White who looked pretty ordinary both in Mohali and here, in the final Test in Nagpur.

"Guys in the sidelines would be looked in. In Nagpur, you have a brand new stadium and I don't expect the pitch not to be like the 2004 (grassy) pitch. We would definitely look at Jason there. He came very close to playing the Test here," Ponting said.

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