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!
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.
"Except for cricketers, poets, and singers, others found it relatively hard to come to India."
This was director John Mathew Matthan's rationale for portraying a ghazal singer as the villain!
25 years ago, crime drama changed forever with the release of Sarfarosh!
A Thread 🧵
John Matthew Matthan was an ad-film director, and "Sarfarosh" was his debut. But, he was an assistant to Govind Nihalani in Nihalani's first film "Aakrosh" and in "Gandhi," where Nihalani was the cinematographer!
He met Naseeruddin Shah on the sets of Aakrosh!
Aamir Khan's rationale to work with a debutant was as follows:
"When I read the script, I realized the social implications of what the film was trying to say (...) I reacted emotionally to it because of what I had been going through as an Indian, it talked of Hindus & Muslims living together."
#JaiBhim
Babasaheb Ambedkar is one of the greatest thinkers ever!
The architect of the Indian Constitution was undeniably a GENIUS!
A thread 🧵celebrating this icon who said "Cultivation of the mind should be the ultimate aim of human existence"
As a member in the viceroy’s council from 1942 to 1946, Dr Ambedkar was instrumental in bringing about several labour reforms.
He changed working hours from 12 to 8 in 1942.
He also introduced DA, medical leaves & periodic revision of pay.
📸@roundtableind
Babasaheb studied for two PhDs in his career in addition to his qualification as a lawyer 🤯
His PhD dissertation in Economics at @LSEnews was titled ‘The Indian Rupee’. A few years ago, @stefeich unearthed a first edition of this work with Ambedkar’s original dedication!
Anil Kumble is one of India's greatest match winners. Today we talk about a a little known story of how a very much vegetarian Kumble ate 2 bears 🐻🐻
Setting the stage - 1995, hot and dry summer in the county championships in England. Kumble is playing for Northamptonshire. A Thread🧵
They were second in the table going to take on the first placed team Warwickshire. Warwickshire, though without Brian Lara, were defending champions and were leading the table at that time.
Few years later, Kumble would dismiss Lara looking like this.
Allan Lamb won the toss for Northamptonshire and decided to bat first. They were skittled out for 152 with only David Capel managing to get to a half century.
David Capel then proceeded to take a 7fer to restrict Warwickshire to 224. Remarkably 140 of them came from Roger Twose.
Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) was incorporated in 1953 by the Government of India as a machine tool manufacturing company.
A watch division came up in Bengaluru in 1961. A guest thread 🧵about HMT by @nandyellidli
If you suffer from #CollectibleLust, the first HMT hand-wound mechanical watch is likely the most coveted treasure among mechanical watch collectors.
Believe me, India boasts a thriving community of enthusiasts!
It is said that Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, now blamed for all the problems that ail our country, dedicated the first batch of hand-wound watches to the people of India - & this the “Janata” line of watches was born!
Maybe true, maybe false…but makes for one heck of a story!