In 132 Test Matches, he averaged 30 (619 wickets).
Home average was 25 (350 wickets). Highest wicket-taker in history in India.
Away average was 36 (38, excluding Bangladesh and Zimbabwe).
Averaged 19 in matches won (43 matches). 22 in matches won abroad (15).
Won 8 MoM awards in matches India won (10 in all, 9 in India).
Has no match-winning MoM outside India (only 1 in a drawn match).
Has 35 innings of 5-wicket hauls (10 away) and 8 matches with 10 wickets (1 away).
Has a batting average of 18. Is no 20 on India's highest run tally list - 2506 runs. 1 century, 5 fifties.
Home average was 25 (350 wickets). Highest wicket-taker in history in India.
Away average was 36 (38, excluding Bangladesh and Zimbabwe).
Averaged 19 in matches won (43 matches). 22 in matches won abroad (15).
Won 8 MoM awards in matches India won (10 in all, 9 in India).
Has no match-winning MoM outside India (only 1 in a drawn match).
Has 35 innings of 5-wicket hauls (10 away) and 8 matches with 10 wickets (1 away).
Has a batting average of 18. Is no 20 on India's highest run tally list - 2506 runs. 1 century, 5 fifties.
No single individual has won more Test matches in India than Anil Kumble. Not for him the loop and lilt of the wily wrist-spinner, but the thrust and snarl of the aggro pacer. His deliveries had more drive and urgency than what is associated with spin bowling, especially leg-spin. Kumble's bowling (predominated by the flipper) was akin to Chinese water torture and therefore more reminiscent of medium pacers like McGrath and Pollock rather than fellow spinners Warne and Muralitharan. Length and pace were his main weapons, and all the variations that could be mustered up between these two. When a third variation came into the mix, in the form of uneven bounce, Kumble was next to unplayable. Many of the home pitches in the 1990s were prepared deliberately to provide that external help and it reflected in the results. India was unbeatable at home, thanks primarily to Kumble. Gradually, international batsmen figured out that treating him as a medium pacer led to better results. Kumble responded by adding more variations in pace and flight, developing a googly and a leg spinner that actually turned. Still, his best results continued to be in India; outside, the pitches rarely obliged with the bite that made him a huge force. His mediocre overseas results have always been the blot on his landscape, but as he himself pointed out, he seldom bowled from a position of strength abroad - the batsmen hardly ever put on big totals, there was rarely pressure on the opposing batsmen. That changed somewhat after Ganguly became captain (though between 2001 and 2008 Kumble still averaged 34 in 39 away Tests) and manifested the most in matches India won abroad (in the same period, his average in the 14 Tests India won abroad was 22). Sadly, Kumble and Harbhajan Singh never became a devastating duo as they logically should have - and both have suffered due to that (and their team even more so). But still, the gap between home and away performances notwithstanding, no Indian bowler has asked as many questions of the batsman as Kumble did. Or indeed, of the umpire.
4 for 75 and 10 for 74 vs Pakistan, Delhi 1999.
| This was a follow up to the famous Chennai test where Tendulkar's epic 136 went in vain as India lost by 17 runs. 1-0 down in a 2 match series and facing the very disturbing prospect of losing at home to Pakistan, India needed to win this Test. They started accordingly, scoring 252 in the first innings despite Saqlain's five wicket haul, and keeping Pakistan down to 172 with Kumble running through the middle order (4 for 75). India put up 339 in the second innings and Pakistan found themselves looking at 420 to win, but with the comfort of knowing that a draw is enough to secure the series. With Afridi and Anwar going strong and putting up a comfortable century | partnership, Pakistan looked certain to sail through. And then Kumble stepped in to make the previous 24 overs seem like they were from a different game. A vicious delivery that spat and bounced claimed Afridi. Ijaz got out off the very next ball to set Kumble up for a hat-trick. Inzamam denied Kumble but the momentum had clearly shifted. Before long Kumble sent Inzamam and Mohammad Yousuf (then Yousuf Youhana) back, and those watching realized that he had just ran through the meat of the Pakistani batting line up with extraordinary ease. A semblance of resistance followed but it was broken quickly when Kumble got Moin Khan and Saeed Anwar, and Pakistan was | down to 128 for 6. Somewhere around this point, visions of 10 out of 10 began floating in peoples' minds, but they were hastily dismissed to guard against jinxes of any sort. But it looked like even the jinxes wanted to see a fairy tale finish. Kumble took Malik, Mushtaq and Saqlain to make it 9. Srinath at the other end started bowling wides, and it was now only a matter of time. Appropriately enough, the final nail in the coffin was the wicket of Wasim Akram, the captain of Pakistan, and Kumble ended with 10 wickets in an innings. The series was drawn, but Kumble was not allowed to airlift the Delhi wicket and carry it with him everywhere he played. |
6 for 72 and 4 for 85 vs Sri Lanka, Delhi 2005.
| Playing a Sri Lankan team that was rapidly rising in stature and skill, the Indians found themselves facing the wrong end of the gun. Murali had spun webs around the Indian batsmen to restrict them to 290. Following that, Jayawardene and Atapattu put Sri Lanka in the driver's seat with the score at 172 for 2 at drinks and with 14 overs to go before the end of day 2. As it turned out, 14 overs were just enough | for Kumble to change the game. Within a span of two overs, Kumble crippled the Lankan innings, reducing them to 179 for 5, knocking over the backbone of their batting in Jayawardene, Samaraweera and Dilshan. He missed a hat-trick but ensured that the Indian dressing room would be a happy place that night as he dismissed Atapattu off the last ball of the day to bring the Lankans down to 198 for 6. The tail was | run over quickly the next morning. Buoyed by the swing in fortunes, the Indian batsmen scored 375 and set Lanka a target of 436 to chase with more than a day and a half to go. It was going to be a steep chase, and Kumble ensured there would be no records rewritten, taking four more wickets to give India a win and end with figures of 10 for 157. |
7 for 48 and 6 for 133 vs Australia, Chennai 2004.
| In one of the biggest anti-climaxes that the game has seen, Kumble helped Sehwag set up a cracker of a contest with a fantastic chase lined up for the last day, before rain killed it all. Australia came in bruised and angry after 2001 and 2003-04, swearing revenge and looking to destroy this one last unconquered kingdom in their reign as the top ranked cricket team in the world. They started off on a rampage, beating India in the first Test. They looked set to do it the second Test, with Hayden, Katich, Langer and | Martyn giving them a solid start. Kumble came in, and not for the first time in his career, completely turned around the run of play. In a vintage Kumble performance he blew the strongest batting side in the world away taking 7 wickets for 48 runs, flinging Australia down from the heights of 189 for 2 to 235 all out. No batsman beyond the top four went past double figures. Sehwag stepped in after that and in his inimitable style, scored 155 to put India right on top with a score of 376. A resurgent Australian side cannot be | held down so easily and they fought back. In an engaging battle, Martyn (104 not out) led the batsmen in a scrap with Kumble, both fighting on an even keel, and finished with honours even. Kumble took 6 wickets but could not keep Australia from reaching a competitive 369 and a fantastic chase was set up with India needing 229 to win. They had scored 19 runs off 3 overs at the close of day 4, and then there was no day 5, the match meeting a soggy, undeserved end. |
3 for 98 and 7 for 63 vs Pakistan, Kolkata 2005.
| The first test of the series being a draw, both teams went in to this game knowing that it held the insurance against conceding a three match series to the arch enemy. The match so far had been played on a run-loaded batting wicket. The first three innings had all gone for more than or close to 400 runs each, and staying in the pattern, Pakistan were left to chase 422 in a day and a half. On an unyielding pitch, the only available route to victory | under pressure. Afridi, as usual, worked in completely the opposite way and looked to put the pressure on the Indians instead. A blistering run-a-ball 59 of 58 balls from him took Pakistan to 93/1, but Kumble put the brakes by getting Afridi in the last over of day 4 and Younis Khan, the centurion from the first innings, as soon as play opened on day 5. The game had changed, India was now in the driver's seat. A middle order for the Indians rested on the hope | that Pakistan will crack filled with the likes of Inzamam, Youhana (or Mohammad Yousuf as he is known now) and the gutsy Akmal was run over by Kumble with help from Balaji and Harbhajan Singh. Eventually, Pakistan got bowled out for 226, and Kumble finished with 7-63 and 10 in the match. An interesting side-light is that Kumble batted no. 11 in both innings, remaining unbeaten both times for 21 and 14. |
32 and 9 for 146 vs England, Mohali 2006
| India was playing an English side that was stronger than it looked on paper, and had been held to a draw in the first Test. In the first innings Kumble kept pegging away at the English batsmen to end with 5 for 76 and keep England to a competitive but not imposing 300. When India came in to bat, however, England suddenly showed the spirit that | had won them the Ashes, and blew the Indian top order away with the English total far from being within reach. Kumble the batsman to the rescue, then. He came in when India was 229 for 6, and then held on till the end to take India to 338, scoring a valuable 32. The match was evenly poised, and would go to the team who first seized | the moment and imposed itself on the game. Kumble punched before England could duck, and cleaned the top order up to help bowl them out for 181 (4 for 70 in 29 overs). Now the match was in India's court; with Sehwag and Dravid in top form, it was only a matter of time before India scored the 144 runs needed to win the match. |
HONOURABLE MENTION:
4 for 67 and 6 for 67 vs New Zealand, Kanpur 1999.
| India was facing a rarity- a top strength New Zealand batting line-up that had the likes of Fleming, Astle, Cairns, Parore and McMillan. The first match of the series was a draw, but India looked like they had got the half-nelson on the second, with the Kiwis down to 130 for 6. But Parore, Cairns and Nash led a fight back which looked like it would give New Zealand a serious advantage before Kumble stepped in to do some damage control, and got rid of Parore (172/7) and Cairns (255/8) to | keep the Kiwis down to a manageable 256. India went in to bat and took a 74 run lead, which was a lot less than what they would have liked when they were 243 for 2. The match was open again, before Kumble stepped in again to stop the eager Kiwis looking to make the most of the unexpected gift. In the last hour of day three, Kumble produced a vicious spell which snuffed out three of New Zealand's top order batsmen, reducing them to 17 for 3, and India went from being uncertain about | a win to speculating how they might spend the 5th day if the Test got over early. The next day, the rest of the pack - Harbhajan and Joshi, helped Kumble clean up the rest of the batting and ensure that this time there was no rearguard action. New Zealand was bowled out for 155, and Kumble finished with match figures of 10 for 134. |
