On this day in 1999, @anilkumble1074 took 10 wickets against Pakistan.
21 years ago, my father (who doesn't usually watch cricket) was glued to the TV set from start to finish, his every cheer getting louder as wickets kept falling.
There were only two other times in my memory that he was so ensnared by cricket matches.
One of them was the legendary India versus Pakistan ODI quarter final in the 1996 World Cup. He cursed in exultation and taught me a new word when Venkatesh Prasad got Aamir Sohail's wicket
The other was when Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath successfully chased an Australian total of 215 after India was down 164 for 8.
The running between wickets and their banter added to the thrilling finish of the game.
Back to @anilkumble1074 and his ten wicket haul. Here are some fascinating stories related to that historical winter's day in Delhi.
This test match should've been played on another pitch. The wonderful Shiv Sainiks decided protest by digging the pitch up and the match to be played on the backup pitch.
There was some nice numbering sequence in the first innings of the game. Our four bowlers - Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad , @harbhajan_singh and Kumble took 1,2,3 and 4 wickets each.
The ball with which Anil Kumble took the 10th wicket (@wasimakramlive) was thought to be lost when the Indian team and the crowd went batshit insane with joy.
Turns out, Venkatesh Prasad had the ball and agreed to give it to Kumble in exchange for dosa at their favorite eatery.
Did you know of other Indians who also took ten wickets in an innings?
- Pradeep Sundaram 10/78 for Rajasthan v/s Vidarbha
- Subhash Gupte 10/78 for India v/s Pakistan Services
- Premangsu Chatterjee 10/20 Bengal v/s Assam
- Debashish Mohanty 10/46 East Zone v/s South Zone
Richard Stokes, an English businessman decided to watch the game live in Kotla.
Remarkably he also watched Jim Laker get his 10 for 53 runs against Australia live. What a privilege to be there on both occasions!
indiatimes.com/sports/meet-ri…
Some Indian newspapers had the headline that said - "Pakistan destroyed by AK-74".
While admittedly creative, it was not the nicest way to phrase it. After all cricket is supposed to be a game played by people with class and should also be reported accordingly.
Kumble overshadowed poor Saqlain Mushtaq.
Mushtaq had bowled exceptionally and taken 10 wickets in that match. In fact in the 4 innings in which he bowled in that two match test series, he took four 5 wicket hauls.
There are rumours that Shiv Sena was going to disrupt the game by releasing snakes on the playing field.
To counter this threat, security agencies had snake charmers on stand-by in case of possible mayhem.
For those interested in numbers, here are the two scorecards of the games where @anilkumble1074 and Jim Laker took their 10 wicket hauls respectively.
espncricinfo.com/series/15864/s…
espncricinfo.com/series/17417/s…
@anilkumble1074 Also, for those who want to watch the highlights from that day, here's Youtube to the rescue:
For more on this wonderful game, our special cricket episodes of #IndiaWantsToKnow - JUST. FOR. YOOOOOOOUUUUUU.
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