Anil Kumble: 619 Test Wickets and the Only Spinner to Take 10 in an Innings
Anil Kumble's extraordinary Test career — 619 wickets as India's greatest bowler, his unique 10/74 against Pakistan in Delhi 1999, his leg-spin technique built on accuracy rather than turn, and his captaincy of India.
Anil Kumble is India's greatest bowler and the third-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket history with 619 wickets at an average of 29.65 across 132 Test matches between 1990 and 2008. Unlike most successful leg-spinners, Kumble's primary weapon was not turn but accuracy, bounce, and the ability to bowl at sustained high speeds for a spinner — he regularly bowled at 85-90 km/h, faster than many seamers in domestic cricket. He is also one of only two bowlers in Test history to take all ten wickets in an innings, achieving 10/74 against Pakistan at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi in February 1999.
10/74: Delhi, February 1999
India vs Pakistan Tests were rare due to political tensions, and the 1999 series in India was only the second bilateral series between the nations in a decade. In the second Test at Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla ground, Kumble bowled India to a historic ten-wicket victory. On the final day, he took all ten Pakistan wickets in their second innings: Shahid Afridi, Saeed Anwar, Ijaz Ahmed, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, Salim Malik, Moin Khan, Saqlain Mushtaq, Wasim Akram, and Waqar Younis. The final wicket — Wasim Akram caught behind — completed a feat matched only by Jim Laker (10/53, England vs Australia, Old Trafford 1956). Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, the other India spinner, conceded 0 wickets in the innings. Kumble bowled 26.3 overs, conceding 74 runs. He finished the match analysis at 14/149.
Bowling Style: Accuracy Over Turn
Kumble was not a spinner in the classical sense — he turned the ball less than Warne, less than Muralitharan, even less than some domestic Indian spinners. What he had instead was extraordinary accuracy combined with relentless pace through the air and pronounced bounce from a full 6-foot-plus frame. His delivery action — high-arm, almost seamer-like, with a powerful shoulder rotation — produced a ball that skidded off the surface and arrived at the batter's hip faster than expected. His leg break went straight on many pitches; his googly and flipper provided variation but were deployed sparingly. His primary method of dismissal was lbw and caught behind — both reliant on the ball hurrying onto the batter rather than beating them with turn. On Indian pitches that turned, Kumble was devastating; but uniquely among top spinners, he was also effective on pitches that offered nothing to spin.
Captaincy and Later Career
Kumble captained India in 14 Test matches in 2007-08 — becoming the third Indian spinner to captain the Test side — following Dravid's resignation. His captaincy record (3 wins, 5 losses, 6 draws) was unremarkable but he led with tactical intelligence and commanded enormous respect from his players. He retired from Tests at the SCG in January 2008 after India's first Test series win in Australia, taking 3 wickets in his final Test. He became India's head coach in 2016 but resigned in 2017 after a reported disagreement with Virat Kohli. His legacy as a bowler is secure: a player who took 619 Test wickets without the primary attribute — significant turn — that defines most successful spin bowlers.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Kumble's 10/74 considered harder to achieve than Jim Laker's 10/53, and what was happening in the Pakistan dressing room during that innings?
The comparison between Laker's 10/53 in 1956 and Kumble's 10/74 in 1999 is genuinely interesting because the circumstances of the two performances were significantly different — and most cricket historians consider Kumble's achievement the harder one, though arguments exist on both sides. The Laker 1956 context: Jim Laker's 10/53 came in a match where Tony Lock — England's other spinner — was bowling at the opposite end throughout and took 0/37 in 55 overs. The pitch at Old Trafford was a turning track that had been prepared specifically for England's spinners and was effectively unplayable by the final day. Several Australian batters in their second innings appeared not to have the technical skill to cope with extreme off-spin on a crumbling surface. Laker's achievement was extraordinary but the conditions were almost uniquely favourable: both Lock and Laker were bowling into a surface tailor-made for them, yet only Laker took wickets. The Kumble 1999 context: Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla in February 1999 was a turning pitch but not an extreme one — Saqlain Mushtaq, one of Pakistan's bowlers who also turned the ball, was wicketless for much of the innings. The Pakistan batting order was not a weak one: Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, and Salim Malik were all Test-quality batters at their peaks. Crucially, Kumble was not bowling into conditions that other spinners were also exploiting — his 10 wickets came through individual brilliance while the pitch was at best moderately assisting. What was happening in the Pakistan dressing room: contemporary accounts from players including Inzamam suggest that after Kumble's seventh and eighth wickets, a psychological disintegration occurred in the Pakistan lower order. Batters who were not due to bat for several overs were reportedly watching from the balcony with a mix of resignation and fascination — the sense that a historic moment was occurring made it difficult to approach the innings with pure competitive focus. Wasim Akram has said he walked to the crease knowing he was likely to be wicket number ten, and that awareness is a different mental state from normal batting. Why most historians rate Kumble's achievement higher: the combination of bowling against competitive batters on a non-extreme surface, without sharing the conditions with an equally threatening partner, places Kumble's 10/74 in slightly higher esteem than Laker's among modern analysts. Laker's achievement was remarkable in isolation; Kumble's was arguably more individually driven.