Anil Kumble turns 50: A look at his amazing records
Indian legend Anil Kumble turned 50 on Saturday. Kumble, who is presently the head coach of IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab, is deemed as one of the greatest match-winners. His vicious leggies have single-handedly clinched some memorable victories for India, over the years. He also earned praise for his brave demeanour, when playing overseas. Let us have a look at his records.
In a career spanning over 18 years, Kumble became the linchpin of India's spin bowling. He is an owner of 956 international wickets, which he has taken from 403 matches at an average of 30.09. This is the third-highest tally of wickets in world cricket. At present, he is also India's leading wicket-taker in both Test (619) and ODI cricket (337).
Kumble still remains the only cricketer to have taken all ten wickets in an innings of a Test match, besides Jim Laker. He achieved the milestone in the second Test against Pakistan at Delhi (1999). Chasing 419, Pakistan were cruising at 101/0 when Kumble emanated the wicket-riot. Eventually, he finished with historic figures of 10/74 as India won by 212 runs.
Kumble holds the record of bowling second-most number of balls (40,850) in Test cricket. He is only behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan (44,039) on this tally. Overall, Kumble conceded 18,355 runs in Tests at an economy rate of 2.69.
Kumble enjoyed a golden run toward the end of 20th century. In 1996, he scalped 61 ODI wickets from 32 games at 20.24. Till date, he holds this record of taking most wickets in a calendar year by an Indian in ODIs. He also snapped up 74 Test wickets in 2004, third-highest from India after Kapil Dev (75, 1983 and 74, 1979).
Kumble served as Team India's flag-bearer whenever they toured the SENA countries. His sharp deliveries on foreign decks gave a run for the money to the opposition. As a result, he is still the leading wicket-taker (141) among Indian bowlers in SENA nations. Kumble has 19 wickets more than the next-best Ishant Sharma (122). A legend for a reason!
