10. ANIL KUMBLE – JUMBO
Anil Kumble was India’s greatest match winner with the ball. The Karnataka leggie wasn’t a big turner of the ball but had subtle variations up his sleeve to bamboozle the best of batsman. Kumble bowled his flippers at the brisk pace which hurried onto the batsman.
Kumble used the googly as a deceptive weapon to outfox top class batsmen. Kumble was India’s strike weapon on spin friendly home conditions as he ran through batting lineups of visiting sides on a consistent basis. A good reader of the game, Kumble was second in command to Ganguly for most of that era. In a nutshell, Anil was a very competitive cricketer who played the game with full commitment and passion.
Test Record: Oct 2000-2005
Matches – 36 Wickets- 189 Bowling Avg. – 28.95 Eco.- 2.84 Strike Rate – 61