Anil Kumble: India's Greatest Bowler and the 10-Wicket Man

Anil Kumble is India's highest wicket-taker in Test cricket and the third-highest of all time. He took 619 Test wickets in 132 Tests at an average of 29.65, bowling leg-breaks with accuracy and pace rather than the classical flight and drift of conventional leg-spin. His bowling was hard to attack and even harder to score off — making him a match-winner on all surfaces, including outside the subcontinent.

10 Wickets in an Innings

On 7 February 1999 at Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, Anil Kumble took all 10 Pakistani wickets in the second innings for 74 runs — only the second player in Test history to take 10 wickets in a single innings (after Jim Laker in 1956). Crucially, Kumble bowled the final ball despite a broken jaw, his face strapped up after being struck by a delivery. India won by 212 runs.

Bowling Style

Kumble's leg-spin was classified by some critics as 'medium-pace leg-spin' — his googly was less prominent than a classical leg-spinner and he relied more on accuracy, pace through the air, and the natural variation created by his action. His trajectory was flatter than Warne's, but he extracted substantial turn in Indian conditions and was effective in English and West Indian conditions too.

Captaincy

Kumble captained India in 14 Tests from 2007 to 2008, winning 3 and losing 5. He later became India's head coach from 2016 to 2017 — a tenure that ended acrimoniously with reports of a breakdown in the captain-coach relationship with Virat Kohli.