On the 22nd anniversary of Anil Kumble taking all ten wickets in a single Test innings, Gautam Gambhir on Sunday labelled the spinner as the “greatest match-winner” India ever had. Gambhir quote-tweeted a video shared by BCCI that showed the highlights of Kumble’s historic feat and wrote: “The greatest match-winner India ever had! Take a bow, legend! @anilkumble1074.” It was on February 7, 1999, that Anil Kumble became just the second bowler in the history of cricket to take all ten wickets in an innings of a Test match.

The greatest match winner India ever had! Take a bow legend! @anilkumble1074 https://t.co/rNnU637Mz5

— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) February 7, 2021

He achieved the feat against Pakistan at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi during the second Test of the two-match series.

India had set Pakistan a target of 420 runs in the match and the visitors got off to a steady start as openers Shahid Afridi and Saeed Anwar put on 101 runs for the first wicket.

Thereafter, it was Kumble who came into the attack and ran through the Pakistani batting line-up. The spinner, also known as ”Jumbo”, first dismissed Afridi (41) in the 25th over.

After the right-handed batter’s dismissal, India kept on taking wickets through Kumble, and Pakistan was reduced to 128/6 in no time.

Kumble continued taking wickets at regular intervals and he got his 10th scalp in the 61st over after dismissing Wasim Akram.

This effort enabled India to register a win by 212 runs and Kumble became the second bowler after England’s Jim Laker to take all ten wickets in a single Test innings.

Kumble finished with the bowling figures of 10-74 from 26.3 overs.

A legend of the game, Kumble announced his retirement from international cricket in 2008. He finished with 619 wickets in the longest format of the game.

Promoted

He is the third-highest wicket-taker (619) in Tests, only behind Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Australia’s Shane Warne (708).

Kumble is currently the head coach of Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL).