Anil Kumble, a legendary Indian spinner, created history by taking 10 wickets in a single innings against Pakistan inside a Test match on this very day (February 7) in 1999. He was the second bowler to accomplish the incredible feat. During the 1956 Ashes series, the brilliant England spinner Jim Laker had taken all 10 Australian batting securities in one single inning.
It was in the second game of the home Test series that Kumble equaled this record at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium (then Feroz Shah Kotla).
In the fourth innings of the match, while Pakistan was pursuing a steep target of 420 runs, Kumble put in a stellar performance, taking 10 for 74 in 26.3 overs with nine maidens.
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Mohammad Azharuddin won the toss and opted to put Indian batters first. However, after the collapse of most of the Indian batters, they could gather only 252 runs in their first innings. Among these, the best contribution came from Sadagoppan Ramesh at 60 and Azharuddin at 67 runs.
While the other batters along with Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman failed to cross the 30-run mark, the top bowler for Pakistan was Saqlain Mushtaq, who accounted for a five-wicket haul for his team at an economy of 2.62.
With the inconsistency of the batting surface, Pakistan went through a tonal young process of collapse. Only two players crossed the 30-mark: Shahid Afridi and Saleem Malik, as the Pakistani side got bundled out for just 172.. This time Anil Kumble took 4 wickets while Harbhajan Singh was able to grab 3 and Venkatesh Prasad had under his wings 2.
India’s batting unit weathered the second innings much better. With Sadagoppan Ramesh with another splendid knock of 96, the hosts started on a fairly good note. Javagal Srinath, one run short of a half-century, and Sourav Ganguly, who remained not out on 62, put up a splendid show. Saqlain Mushtaq bagged five wickets again while India collapsed to 339 all out.
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Pakistan, with Saeed Anwer and Shahid Afridi, got off to a brilliant start with 100 and above pairing. Anil Kumble broke through first with Afridi, and then in the next over Ijaz Ahmed without getting any score.
Mohammad Yousuf and Saqlain Mushtaq also could not open their accounts, while Inzamam-ul-Haq, Moin Khan, and Mushtaq Ahmed all scored in single digits. Wasim Akram was the top scorer with 37 as Pakistan ultimately had to close their innings on 207 since Kumble wreaked some havoc.
