A square peg in a round hole; a leg spinner sans the classical action, Anil Kumble was different from any of the leg spinners doing the rounds in the cricketing world. Bespectacled, tall, lanky, Kumble looked more like the scholarly types, and less of a Test match cricketer, when he first broke into the national side in the summer of 1990 in England. The traditional leggie's flight and dip were not for him. Instead Kumble's most destructive weapon was his impeccable line and length and subtle changes in the speed of his deliveries. In the mould of his idol BS Chandrasekhar, Kumble shaped some of India's most emphatic victories at home under Azhar's captaincy. In time Kumble became India's most successful match-winner, winning more games than any other player in the history of Indian cricket.
Kumble has taken five wickets or more in an innings 35 times in his Test match career. Twenty-one of these 5-wicket hauls have seen India end up as winners. This statistic is enough to prove that Kumble has been a match-winner for sure. Numbers though do not do justice to the fighter within the man. In the Antigua Test in the 2002 series, Kumble bowled with a broken jaw and a bandaged face and was still good enough to take the wicket of Brian Lara.
Let's now take a look at some of Kumble's best performances which also saw India win the Test.
