Flashback: When Kumble took all 10 wickets to rewrite cricket history

On February 7th in 1999 Indias legendary legspinner Anil Kumble became just the second player to take all 10 wickets in a Test innings and in the process wrote his name into the annals of cricket folklore and historyKumble emulated Englishman Jim Lakers feat against Australia 43 years ago finishing with 1074 from 263 overs against Pakistan The feat was made all the more special since it was against archrivlas Pakistan and that too the Test series was the first on Indian soil between the two teams in 12 yearsKumbles brilliance saw India crush Pakistan by 212 runs in the second Test in New Delhi and square the short twomatch seriesIn this picture taken on February 5 1999 Anil Kumble left celebrates with wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia and fielder Sadagopan Ramesh right after the dismissal of unseen Pakistani batsman Inzamam ulHaq during the second day of the second Test match at The Feroz Shah Kotla Cricket Stadium in New Delhi PicAFPThe 28yearold computer engineer proved unplayable on the dusty Ferozeshah Kotla track as Pakistan chasing a mammoth target of 420 were shot out for 207 an hour after tea on the fourth dayIts a dream an honour to get all 10 Kumble said after being named man of the match by referee Cammie Smith of the West IndiesI knew I had to bowl straight to be successful on this wicket I kept a good line and it all worked out in the end he saidIn his moment of glory the modest bowler paid handsome tribute to his teenage spinning partner Harbhajan Singh and seamers Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh PrasadI dont think I would have got there without their support Kumble said It was a great team effort but the best thing is that India won the match to level the seriesPakistan who won the first Test in Chennai by 12 runs had some consolation when offspinner Saqlain Mushtaq was named man of the series for his fivewicket hauls in all four innings of the seriesKumble however finished one up on Saqlain with 21 wickets from two games seven wickets at Chennai and 14 in this TestThe odds were heavily stacked against Pakistan when they began their second inningsA 400plus chase had been achieved only twice before in history by Don Bradmans Australians against England in 1948 and Bishen Bedis India against the West Indies in 1976But openers Saeed Anwar and Shahid Afridi gave the tourists a glimmer of hope when they smashed 101 for the first wicket in 98 minutesKumble however swung the match Indias way as Pakistan lost six top order batemen for the addition of 27 runsThe rout began with a contentious decision by debutant Indian umpire Jayaprakash who ruled Afridi caught behind by wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia when the ball appeared to have missed the batAlthough by failing to dismiss Pakistans Waqar Younis in either innings he missed out on the achievement of dismissing all eleven batsmen in a Test matchAnil Kumble getting ready to bowl on the fourth day of the second Test match at The Feroz Shah Kotla Cricket Stadium in New Delhi It has been said that once he had got nine wickets his friend and teammate Javagal Srinath started bowling wide outside the off stump so that Kumble could take the 10thThe performance was rated by Wisden as the second best Bowling performance of all timeThe achievement was commemorated by naming a traffic circle in Bengaluru after him and gifting him a car with the customised license plate KA10N10In 1999 Kumble was the third highest wicket taker with 88 wickets at the average of 3003 behind Glenn McGrath and Shane WarneAn angry Afridi who made 41 stood his ground for a while before walking off slowly cursing under his breathKumbles next delivery rapped Ijaz Ahmed on the full and Jayaprakash a former firstclass cricketer once again raised his fingerFired up by the twin success Kumble took two more wickets in another over when Inzamamul Haq edged a top spinner on to his stumps and Yousuf Youhanna was given out legbeforeMoin Khan edged a Kumble snorter to the slips where Saurav Ganguly dived to his right to pick up a low catchLefthander Anwar who scored just 32 in his previous three innings found timely form with a defiant 69 but failed to keep down a Kumble delivery and was snapped up in the leg trapPakistan 1286 at that stage were saved from a humiliating collapse by a seventh wicket stand of 58 between Salim Malik and skipper Wasim AkramThe unplayable Kumble however hastened the end by bowling Malik for 15 He then trapped Saqlain leg before first ball and gave India victory by having Akram caught in the legtrap for 37Earlier India added just 15 runs to their overnight score of 3247 before being all out for 339 within the first 20 minutes of playSaqlain took the last three wickets to claim his fourth fivewicket haul in as many innings in the current seriesICC celebrates the featOnThisDay in 1999 anilkumble1074 became just the second player to take all 10 wickets in a Test innings pictwittercomp8XE4QkRPUmdash ICC ICC February 7 2016