Anil Kumble's 10 Wickets in an Innings: Cricket's Rarest Bowling Achievement
Anil Kumble's 10 for 74 against Pakistan in Delhi in 1999 — only the second time any bowler has taken all 10 wickets in a Test innings, how it happened, and why it remains one of cricket's rarest individual achievements.
Taking all ten wickets in a Test innings is the rarest bowling achievement in cricket. In the entire history of Test cricket — over 2,600 Tests played since 1877 — it has been achieved only twice: by Jim Laker (19/90 in the match, including 10 for 53 in England's second innings against Australia in 1956) and by Anil Kumble (10/74 in a single innings against Pakistan in Delhi in 1999). No other bowler has dismissed all ten opposing batters in a Test innings.
The Innings: Delhi, February 1999
India vs Pakistan, Second Test, Feroz Shah Kotla, New Delhi, February 7, 1999. Pakistan's second innings. Kumble had taken 4 wickets in Pakistan's first innings; with the pitch deteriorating significantly, India needed wickets to win the match. Kumble took the first wicket in the second innings and did not stop — he removed every Pakistan batter, including Shoaib Akhtar and Waqar Younis from the tail — finishing with 10 for 74 from 26.3 overs. His tenth victim was Wasim Akram, caught at short leg. The analysis: a near-perfect leg-spin performance in deteriorating conditions, with India's fielders holding all ten chances.
What Made It Possible: Conditions and Bowling
Kumble's flat, faster leg-spin — different from Shane Warne's slower, loopier trajectory — was particularly suited to the Delhi pitch in its deteriorated state. The ball was gripping and turning sharply from rough patches, and Kumble's accuracy meant he could exploit the difficult areas consistently without giving Pakistan's batters opportunity to leave or play through. The partnership between Kumble and India's fielders was essential — holding all ten catches at a variety of positions required a fielding performance as close to perfect as the bowling. Javagal Srinath, India's other key bowler that Test, was effective but played the supporting role, conceding the wickets to allow Kumble's achievement.
Frequently asked questions
Why has nobody taken 10 wickets in a Test innings in the 25 years since Kumble's performance, and is the achievement becoming harder or less likely as Test cricket evolves?
The scarcity of 10-wicket innings in Test cricket — only twice in 150 years of the game — suggests this is one of cricket's genuinely unlikely events rather than a common achievement that is prevented by changing conditions. Statistical rarity: in any single innings, a bowler would need to be the best bowler in their team (to be given the most overs), have excellent conditions for their bowling type, have the opposing team's batting weaken (meaning the lower order faces difficult conditions), and have their fielders hold all ten catches including edge chances that often go down. Each of these requirements is individually probable in some degree; combined, their probability becomes very low across any given innings. Modern factors that might make it slightly harder: DRS has reduced the number of dismissals by LBW given to any bowler (reviews successfully challenging LBWs mean some wickets that would have been given in pre-DRS cricket are now not-outs). Also, lower-order batters have generally improved their resistance, so getting through tail batters cleanly requires more sustained accuracy. These factors are relatively minor and probably reduce the probability somewhat rather than fundamentally altering it. Why it hasn't happened since: primarily because it is so rare to begin with. In 25 years of Test cricket since 1999, thousands of innings have been played and the combination of circumstances required simply hasn't aligned for one bowler in one innings to the same extreme degree it did for Kumble at Kotla. This is a consequence of rarity rather than a structural change in Test cricket. The more interesting question is whether pitch preparation changes — towards harder, longer-lasting surfaces designed to provide five days of cricket — have reduced the extreme deterioration conditions that both Laker and Kumble benefited from. If pitches are better prepared, extreme spin conditions on day four or five become less common, potentially reducing the conditions most likely to produce a 10-wicket innings.