All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

260 Anil Kumble India v Pakistan, 1998/99 Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi on 4, 5, 6, 7 February 1999 (5-day match) Toss won by India India won by 212 runs Umpires: SA Bucknor, AV Jayaprakash India 252 (Saqlain Mushtaq 5-94) and 339 (Saqlain Mushtaq 5-122); Pakistan 172 and 207 (A Kumble 10-74) Pakistan second innings Saeed Anwar c Laxman b Kumble 69 Shahid Afridi c Mongia b Kumble 41 Ijaz Ahmed lbw b Kumble 0 Inzamam-ul-Haq b Kumble 6 Yousuf Youhana lbw b Kumble 0 +Moin Khan c Ganguly b Kumble 3 Saleem Malik b Kumble 15 *Wasim Akram c Laxman b Kumble 37 Mushtaq Ahmed c Dravid b Kumble 1 Saqlain Mushtaq lbw b Kumble 0 Waqar Younis not out 6 Extras (b 15, lb 2 , nb 10, w 2) 29 Total (all out, 60.3 overs) 207 Fall of wickets 1-101, 2-101, 3-115, 4-115, 5-127, 6-128, 7-186, 8-198, 9-198, 10-207 India bowling: J Srinath 12-2-50-0, BKV Prasad 4-1-15-0, A Kumble 26.3-9- 74-10, Harbhajan Singh 18-5-51-0 India: S Ramesh, VVS Laxman, RS Dravid, SR Tendulkar, M Azharuddin (capt), SC Ganguly, NR Mongia (wk), A Kumble, J Srinath, BKV Prasad, Harbhajan Singh Anil Kumble, India’s leading Test wicket-taker, is a statistician’s dream: all ten wickets in a Test innings, a maiden Test century aged nearly 37, and 100 wickets in an English first-class season (1995), this last a feat only achieved three times since. Conventionally described as a leg break and googly bowler, this simple description does not do justice to his singular style. Starting life as a medium pacer, at the age of 15 his elder brother suggested that he tried spin, and he developed into a purveyor of brisk top spin, making the ball turn a little both ways. His down-to-earth unassuming character belied the tenacity of his bowling. Tall, with powerful shoulders, his long, lively swing of the arm enabled him to make the ball bounce dangerously on hard pitches. Relentlessly accurate, he presented batsmen with difficult choices: play forward and that bounce might pop the ball into the hands of waiting close fielders; play back and risk your defence being breached by a fizzing top spinner. Kumble was born in Bangalore, Karnataka, in 1970. From street to school to club cricket he progressed rapidly, his Test debut against England in