Anil Kumble has seen many highs in his 18-year career. One such came on February 7, 1999, during the Test against Pakistan at the Kotla, when the spinner picked up all 10 wickets in the second innings, carving his name in the history books.
To date, he is only the second-ever bowler after England’s Jim Laker — who scalped 10 Australians in 1956 — to have achieved the feat.
Ask him if anyone could break that record, Kumble says he doesn’t know how to answer that. “You do not go into a game thinking that I will pick up all 10. It just happened. So, I really don’t know. Probably it’s divine.
“It has happened only twice in Test history and I never thought that I will be one of them. It might happen tomorrow or never. I certainly didn’t expect it would happen to me,” he says.
He singles out the 2002 Headingley Test versus England and the 1993 home series against the same opponents as the most satisfying and defining moments of his career.
“It was a green top at Headingley and we had posted 600 plus. And then we got them out with two spinners,” recalled Kumble, who picked up seven wickets in the Test. “Of course, we had the faster bowlers in Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar and Sanjay Bangar, but the spinners also played a very important role. In that sense, the most satisfying victory overseas was the Headingley game.
“When you travel abroad, as a fast bowler you have to do a job but spinners also made valuable contributions.”
India won that Test by an innings and 46 runs.
“Then there was the 1993 series when England came here. The three of us (Venkatapathy Raju, Rajesh Chauhan and myself) complemented each other to win the series for India. One spinner gets the credit generally, but all three bowled really well.”
