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Full name Anil Kumble
Born October 17, 1970, Bangalore, Karnataka
Current age 37 years 205 days
Major teams India,Asia XI,Bangalore Royal Challengers,Karnataka,Leicestershire,Northamptonshire,Surrey
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Legbreak googly
Batting and fielding averages
Mat
Inns
NO
Runs
HS
Ave
BF
SR
100
50
4s
6s
Ct
St
Tests
127
165
32
2427
110*
18.24
6249
38.83
1
5
292
9
57
0
ODIs
271
136
47
938
26
10.53
1536
61.06
0
0
57
6
85
0
First-class
238
308
61
5475
154*
22.16
7
17
117
0
List A
380
203
73
1456
30*
11.20
0
0
122
0
Twenty20
6
2
0
11
8
5.50
14
78.57
0
0
0
0
2
0
Bowling averages
Mat
Inns
Balls
Runs
Wkts
BBI
BBM
Ave
Econ
SR
4w
5w
10
Tests
127
227
39450
17669
608
10/74
14/149
29.06
2.68
64.8
31
35
8
ODIs
271
265
14496
10412
337
6/12
6/12
30.89
4.30
43.0
8
2
0
First-class
238
65399
28608
1120
10/74
25.54
2.62
58.3
72
19
List A
380
20247
14178
514
6/12
6/12
27.58
4.20
39.3
14
3
0
Twenty20
6
6
133
172
4
2/20
2/20
43.00
7.75
33.2
0
0
0
Career statistics
Test debut
England v India at Manchester, Aug 9-14, 1990 scorecard
Last Test
India v South Africa at Ahmedabad, Apr 3-5, 2008 scorecard
Test statistics
ODI debut
India v Sri Lanka at Sharjah, Apr 25, 1990 scorecard
Last ODI
Bermuda v India at Port of Spain, Mar 19, 2007 scorecard
ODI statistics
First-class debut
1989/90
Last First-class
India v South Africa at Ahmedabad, Apr 3-5, 2008 scorecard
List A debut
1989/90
Last List A
Bermuda v India at Port of Spain, Mar 19, 2007 scorecard
Twenty20 debut
Gloucestershire v Surrey at Bristol, Jul 24, 2006 scorecard
Last Twenty20
Kolkata Knight Riders v Bangalore Royal Challengers at Kolkata, May 8, 2008 scorecard
Profile
No bowler in history has won India more Test matches than Anil Kumble, and there probably hasn't been a harder trier either. Like the great tall wristspinners Bill O'Reilly and his own idol BS Chandrasekhar, Kumble trades the legspinner's proverbial yo-yo for a spear, as the ball hacks through the air rather than hanging in it and comes off the pitch with a kick rather than a kink. It is a method that has provided him stunning success, particularly on Indian soil, where his deliveries burst like packets of water upon the feeblest hint of a crack, and more than one modern-day batsman has remarked that there is no more difficult challenge in cricket than handling Kumble on a wearing surface.
Kumble's prodigious capacity to bear pain was proved in Antigua in 2002 when he bandaged his fractured jaw to deliver a stirring spell, and that to continuously learn when, in the mid-2000s, after a decade of middling away performances, he influenced memorable wins in Headingley, Adelaide, Multan and Kingston, using an improved googly, bigger sidespin and more variation in flight and on the crease.
In a brilliant though always downplayed career Kumble has claimed virtually every Indian record. In 1999 in Delhi he swallowed all ten wickets in an innings against Pakistan. In December 2001, on home turf in Bangalore, he became the India's first spinner to take 300 Test wickets. A year later, almost to the day, he became the first to do so in one-dayers. In August 2007 at The Oval he went past Glenn McGrath's 563 wickets and in January 2008 he broke the 600 barrier, to stand behind only Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, emphasising his contribution to spin's golden era. And at The Oval he chalked up what, judging by the pure ecstasy of his reaction and the dressing room's, was perhaps his most cherished feat of all - a Test century that had been 17 years and 118 matches in the coming.
Less than a month after his 37th birthday, though, he received the ultimate honour when he was named India's Test captain for the home series against Pakistan. He went on to win the series, the first home triumph against Pakistan in 27 years, before playing a big role in holding the side together during the controversial series in Australia.
Rahul Bhattacharya January 2008
