Anil Kumble played test and one-day international cricket for his country's squad throughout the course of an 18-year international career. He is a former Indian cricket captain, coach, and commentator. He grabbed 619 wickets in Test matches, making him the fourth-highest wicket taker of all time as of 2022. He is widely recognised as one of the best leg spinners in the annals of Test cricket.

Anil Kumble became only the second player, after Jim Laker of England, to dismiss all ten batsmen in a Test innings in 1999 when playing against Pakistan. Kumble did not turn the ball much compared to his contemporaries; instead, he relied heavily on pace, bounce, and accuracy. He was referred to as Apple and Jumbo. In 1993 Indian Cricket named Kumble the Cricketer of the Year, and three years later he was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year.

Anil Kumble’s birthday is on 17 October 1970. Anil Kumble’s age is 52 years as of 2022.  Anil Kumble’s birthplace is Bangalore, India. Anil Kumble’s zodiac sign is Libra. Anil Kumble’s height is 1.85m or 6’1” in inches. Anil Kumble’s religion is Hinduism. Anil Kumble does right-handed batting. Anil Kumble is a leg break bowler.

Anil Kumble, who was raised watching players like B. S. Chandrasekhar before becoming a professional cricketer, was born in Bangalore, Karnataka. At the age of 19, he made his First-class debut while playing for Karnataka. He was soon selected for the 1990 Austral-Asia Cup before playing his first Test match against England later that year. Since then, he has played for the Indian Test squad in more than 132 Test matches, and he helped India win a lot of those games.

Early in the 1990s, Anil Kumble joined the regular ODI squad and put on some of his greatest performances, including his six for 12 (six wickets for 12 runs) against the West Indies. He was chosen for the World Cup in 1996, and after playing in seven games and taking 15 wickets at an average of 18.73, he finished as the competition's most successful bowler.

In 2005, Anil Kumble received the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian honour in India. He announced his retirement from international cricket in November 2008 after 18 years of competition. Kumble was chosen to lead the cricket committee of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in October 2012.

Anil Kumble served as the head coach for the Indian Premier League teams Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians from 2012 and 2015. He also served as the previous head coach of the Indian cricket team. He was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame in February 2015, being the fourth cricketer from India to do so. Kumble is the director of cricket operations and the head coach of the Punjab Kings at the moment.

Career

Early Career and Test Debut

On November 30, 1989, Anil Kumble made his first-class debut for Karnataka against Hyderabad, capturing 4 wickets and scoring a pair. After scoring 113 in the first test and 76 in the second, he was chosen to play for India's under-19 team against Pakistan's under-19 team. On April 25, 1990, during the Austral-Asia Cup in Sharjah, he played his first ODI match against Sri Lanka. He picked up two wickets against Pakistan in the final game of the series.

In the same year that India visited England for a three-test series, Anil Kumble made his Test debut. He picked up three wickets in the first innings of the second test of the series, which was contested at Manchester, and he went without a wicket in the second, which ended in a draw. The last Test he participated in was in 1992.
Anil Kumble's 13/138 performance for Rest of India against Delhi in the Irani Trophy clinched the latter's triumph. He was able to tour with the Indian side in South Africa and Zimbabwe thanks to this performance. He made a name for himself as a strong spinner during the 1992 Indian tour of South Africa, taking eight wickets in the second Test. In the four-test series, he secured 18 wickets overall at an average of 25.94 and an economy rate of 1.84.

When England visited India later that year, Kumble grabbed 21 wickets in three Test matches, with an average of 19.8. At the third Test of the series, contested in Bombay, he took seven wickets for 165 runs as India went on to win the game by an innings and 15 runs. For his efforts, he was named the game's man of the match.

Before Ravichandran Ashwin overtook him by attaining the mark in nine matches, Kumble's record of 10 matches was the quickest by an Indian bowler to 50 Test wickets. After Erapalli Prasanna, his 100 Test wickets in 21 Test matches are the second-fastest by an Indian bowler (who took 100 wickets in 20 matches). He set an Indian record for a very long time on November 27, 1993, when he grabbed six wickets for just 12 runs in an ODI against the West Indies at Eden Gardens in Calcutta during the Hero Cup final.

Stuart Binny broke this record on June 17, 2014, against Bangladesh. When Sri Lanka toured India in January 1994, Kumble notched up his first 10-wicket performance in the 14th game, ensuring India's triumph by an innings and 119 runs. In the game, he took 11 wickets for 128 runs.

World Cup - 1996

Anil Kumble had an incredibly successful year in 1996, with 61 ODI wickets at an average of 20.24. He took 90 wickets overall in Tests and ODIs for an average of 24.14, making him the top wicket-taker of the year. Kumble was chosen for the Indian World Cup team in 1996. He participated in each of India's seven games.

Anil Kumble had 15 wickets at an average of 18.73, making him the tournament's top wicket-taker. Kumble grabbed three wickets for 28 runs during India's opening match against Kenya, which helped India restrict Kenya to just 199/6 in their 50 overs. India easily defeated the opposition by seven wickets.

Anil Kumble took three wickets for 35 runs against the West Indies in the next match, and two for 39 runs against Sri Lanka in the group stage. In the quarterfinal round, India faced Pakistan. Anil Kumble recorded three for forty-eight in the game, which India ultimately won. They went on to lose to Sri Lanka in the semifinals, with Kumble going 1 for 51.

1996 - 2008

Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath both contributed to India's Titan Cup victory over Australia in Bangalore in October 1996. When India was 164/8 and chasing a 216-run goal, Sachin Tendulkar was out at 88. The pair then contributed 52 runs for the ninth wicket partnership. In the end, India took home the Titan Cup.

India travelled to the West Indies in February 1997 for a set of five tests and four one-day internationals. Kumble was a member of the team and led the Test series in wickets taken. He had 19 wickets, taking the ball for an average of 30.31. When Australia toured India for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 1998, Kumble had a commanding lead in wickets taken. In 3 test matches, he took 23 wickets at an average of 18.26.

Anil Kumble, with a total of 10 for 74, is one of just three bowlers in history (the other two being Jim Laker of England in 1956 and Ajaz Patel of New Zealand in 2021). In Delhi's second Test match against Pakistan in February 1999, Kumble accomplished this. However, by failing to get rid of Pakistan's Waqar Younis in either innings, he was unable to complete the feat of eliminating every batsman in a Test match. According to legend, Javagal Srinath began to bowl wide beyond the off stump once Kumble had taken nine wickets, allowing Kumble to claim the tenth.

According to Wisden, the performance was the second-best bowling performance of all time. A traffic circle in Bengaluru was named after him to honour his accomplishments, and he was given a car with the personalised licence plate KA-10-N-10. He had 88 wickets at an average of 30.03 in 1999, placing him third after Glenn Mcgrath and Shane Warne.

Sadagoppan Ramesh, the Indian opener, attempted to take a catch off Srinath, but Javagal Srinath warned him not to try to take any catches so that Anil Kumble could take all ten wickets. Regarding the specific game, Anil Kumble's 10 wickets versus Pakistan at Feroz Shah Kotla, New Delhi in 1999, Ramesh stated this in an interview with 10 Sports. In the 1999 India-Pakistan test, Kumble was attempting to grab his tenth wicket, and Srinath, bowling from the opposite end, was attempting to avoid capturing the final wicket that would have allowed Kumble to break the record.

Since Srinath bowled two wide deliveries in the test match in order to avoid taking a wicket, Anil Kumble always gives him full credit for his perfect 10 against Pakistan. On October 6, 2004, Anil Kumble passed Kapil Dev to become the second Indian bowler to get 400 Test wickets. He was the third spinner to do it in Test cricket history, behind Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan. He needed 7 less Test matches than Warne and 30 fewer than Kapil Dev to reach the milestone. It had been 35 years since a comparable series victory when Kumble took 6-78 in the second innings of the last Test in Sabina Park, Jamaica, during the India-West Indies series in 2006.

Kumble made 45 runs in the first innings of the game, passing Shane Warne to become the second player in the game's history to reach 2000 runs and over 500 Test wickets. Kumble is the world leader in leg-before-wicket catches of batsmen.   When Kumble trapped Bangladesh's Mohammad Rafique on December 10, 2004, he surpassed Kapil Dev's record-setting 434 wicket total and established himself as India's leading wicket-taker.

On January 10, 2005, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Anil Kumble also took the field for the ACC Asian XI against the ICC World XI in an ODI match for the World Cricket Tsunami Appeal, which was organised for the benefit of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami victims. He recorded 2/73 in the game and 11 runs off 7 balls. He was selected by the ICC as the 12th member in the Test World Test XI for his 2005 efforts.

Anil Kumble dismissed Steve Harmison lbw in the second Test of England's visit to India in March 2006 to record his 500th Test wicket. He achieved the milestone as the first Indian and fifth overall. He declared his retirement from ODIs on March 30, 2007, upon his return to India from the 2007 World Cup.

Anil Kumble made his first Test century against England at the Oval on August 10 of that year, with an unbeaten 110 to help his team finish with 664. He overtook Chaminda Vaas, who had previously held the record with 96 Tests, by needing 118 matches to get his first Test hundred, setting a new record for the most games needed to make a century. Additionally, it was the sole Indian hundred in the three-test series. He is the first cricketer in Test history to have both taken all ten wickets in an innings and scored a Test century.

The dismissal of Vaughan, Kumble's 900th international wicket and 563rd test wicket, brought him even with McGrath a day after reaching his century.  Only Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne have more wickets than he did when he later trapped Monty Panesar for an out by lbw to end the innings and pass McGrath on the list of all-time wicket-takers.

In his whole Test career, Anil Kumble has bowled 40850 balls, which is second only to M Muralitharan's 44039 deliveries. On November 8th, 2007, Kumble was chosen to lead the Indian Test cricket squad. Rahul Dravid, a state colleague who quit as captain in September 2007, was succeeded by him. He is the only leg spinner on the team to hold the position of captain. A three-match series against Pakistan was played in India for his first series as captain of the Indian Test team. when the group triumphed 1-0.
Anil Kumble became the first Indian bowler and the third in the world to attain the milestone of 600 Test wickets on January 17, 2008, during the third Test against Australia at the WACA in Perth. Just after the tea break, Kumble set the record when he got Andrew Symonds to be caught by Rahul Dravid at first slip. Kumble took 600 wickets in 124 matches, averaging 28.68 per game. The Indian spinner Kumble has taken the most wickets versus Australia. After Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne, Kumble is the third bowler to record 600 Test wickets.

Retirement from International Cricket

When Anil Kumble attempted to catch a ball from Matthew Hayden during Australia's first inning, he damaged the little finger on his left hand, rendering him unsuitable for the fourth and final test of the series against Australia in November 2008.

In the third test of the series against Australia, Kumble struggled to regain his hitting form and lasted four innings without a wicket before the opening innings of Australia, when he took three lower-order wickets. There were only six more overs of the drawn game to be played when he declared India's second innings. He finished with a score of 4-0-14-0.

On November 2, 2008, during the third Test match against Australia at the Feroz Shah Kotla Cricket Stadium in New Delhi, India, Anil Kumble announced his retirement from international test cricket, first-class cricket, and list A cricket appearances. He secured Mitchell Johnson's career-ending wicket. Matthew Hayden scored a four on a low full toss that was the final ball of his test career. M. S. Dhoni took over as team captain after he retired.

 IPL Career

After retiring, Anil Kumble consented to uphold his obligation under his contract with the Indian Premier League's Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) team. In the initial round of bidding in 2008, he was handed a three-year contract at US$500,000 annually. In the second game of the 2009 edition, which was contested in South Africa, on April 18, 2009, Anil Kumble picked up a five-wicket haul against the reigning champion Rajasthan Royals while allowing just five runs in 3.1 overs.

This performance helped RCB win by 75 runs. This is still the fourth-best bowling performance in IPL history as of right now. Kevin Pietersen left for England's cricket obligations, so Kumble was named the Royal Challengers' new captain. His side defeated the Chennai Super Kings on May 23, 2009, by a margin of six wickets, earning a place in the championship game against the Deccan Chargers. Kumble is the only player in IPL history to earn Man of the Match in the finals while being on the losing team, even though RCB lost the match.

Despite the fact that RCB did not succeed in winning the tournament, Kumble ended up being the most effective spin bowler and the second-highest wicket-taker with 21 wickets and a 5.86 run per over economy rate, behind R. P. Singh. Anil Kumble guided the club to the semifinals of the 2010 Indian Premier League. The Royal Challengers lost to the Mumbai Indians in their semi-final, which was played at the DY Patil Stadium because of safety concerns in Bangalore.

Kumble took one wicket at an economy rate of 7.50 during the match for the Royal Challengers. He was included in the ESPN Cricinfo IPL XI for his 2010 performances. On January 4, 2011, Anil Kumble declared his departure from the Indian Premier League. He was hired by RCB as the team's chief mentor after his retirement from the IPL as a player, and he guided them to the 2011 Finals against the Chennai Super Kings.

Anil Kumble departed that job in January 2013 and took a similar one with the Mumbai Indians, which he resigned in November 2015 after winning two championships for them in different years. He is the Punjab Kings' current director of operations.

Part of Cricket Associations

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) named Anil Kumble to its commission for athletes. His tenure began on January 1, 2009. On November 21, 2010, Kumble was chosen to lead the Karnataka State Cricket Association.

Statemates and former colleague Venkatesh Prasad was chosen to serve as vice-president, and Javagal Srinath, a member of Kumble's former team, was chosen to serve as secretary. Kumble was selected to lead the ICC Cricket Committee on October 12, 2012. On March 2nd, 2019, Kumble was chosen to serve as the ICC Cricket Committee's chairman for an additional three years.

 Coaching Career

Anil Kumble was hired by the BCCI on June 24, 2016, for a one-year term as the head coach of the Indian Cricket Team, but he later resigned, citing unacceptable differences with the captain, Virat Kohli. After the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, Anil Kumble's one-year stint came to a conclusion. Anil Kumble will remain the coach of the India Cricket Team for the upcoming West Indies tour of India, COA president Vinod Rai stated on June 12, 2017. In less than a year, on June 20, 2017, he resigned as the head coach of the Indian Cricket Team following a recent loss to Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy Final.

India played four Test matches and defeated the West Indies 2-0 in Anil Kumble's debut series as a coach in July. His second straight victory in a Test series as a coach came later, when India defeated New Zealand 3-0. India extended their winning streak to three test series victories under Kumble as a coach by defeating England 4-0 in the five-Test series in November-December. India defeated Bangladesh to win the fourth Test series. India continued to dominate at home, continuing their streak of Test victories without a loss of 19 games.

In March, India played Australia in a four-match Test series. After losing the first game, India produced an incredible comeback, defeating Australia in two of the final three games, drawing the fourth, and taking the series 2-1. Under Kumble's leadership, India also won two one-day series. First, they defeated England 2-1 in a three-match series before defeating New Zealand 3-2 in a five-match one-day series. He was hired by Kings XI Punjab in October 2019 as their head coach and director of cricket operations.

Controversies

After India's 2017 Champions Trophy campaign, Anil Kumble resigned from his position, citing untenable issues with skipper Virat Kohli. Even though Kohli rejected rumours of a falling out before the Champions Trophy opener against Pakistan, Kumble and Kohli apparently had disagreements for a considerable amount of time.

Anil Kumble said in a statement that the cricket board had informed him that skipper Kohli had reservations with my style and about my staying as the head coach, and that he had decided it was better to move on. Kumble resigned in June 2017.

Achievements

• 1995: Arjuna Award
• 1996: Wisden Cricketers of the Year
• 2002: Wisden Indian Cricketer of the 20th Century (Nominee)
• 2005: Padma Shri
• 2009: Best breakthrough performance IPL 2009
• 2015: ICC Cricket Hall of Fame

Records

• The record-setting feat of 337 wickets in 271 ODIs by Anil Kumble still stands.
• Anil Kumble also ranks third in the world with 619 Test wickets, the most of any Indian bowler in 132 games.
• In the second innings of the Delhi Test against Pakistan in 1999, Anil Kumble claimed 10 wickets for 74 runs, becoming just the second bowler after England's Jim Laker to do so.
• Anil Kumble is third overall, behind Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne, with the most international wickets by an Indian player.
• Highest number of ODI Wickets by an Indian (337)
• Anil Kumble holds several records, including the unbroken mark of 61 wickets in 1996 for the most ODI wickets taken by an Indian in a single year.
• Anil Kumble holds the record for most ODI wickets taken on a single ground in India with 56 at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
• Anil Kumble is the only Indian to have bowled more than 40850 deliveries in his whole Test career, and he ranks second overall.
• The most comprehensive tally by an Indian cricketer is his 35 five-wicket hauls in tests, along with 8 ten-wicket hauls and 2 five-wicket hauls in ODIs.
• The only Indian bowler with five wickets in a test innings more than 30 times is Anil Kumble.
• Anil Kumble became the first ever spinner to record 200 ODI wickets in a game against Zimbabwe in 1998, taking his 200th ODI victim.
• Anil Kumble continues to hold the record for the most caught and bowled dismissals in tests, having suffered 25 of them.

Facts 

• Anil Kumble has done mechanical engineering.
• Anil Kumble was given the nickname Jumbo by his teammates.
• Few people are aware that Anil Kumble, India's most successful spinner, first started out as a medium pacer.
• Kumble's name was derived from Kumbla, Kerala, the hometown of his parents.
• Very few people know that Kumble had a test century also, which came against England in Oval in 2007, 110 off 192 balls.
• Anil Kumble, a native of Karnataka, has been honoured for his outstanding bowling by having a major crossroads in Bangalore named after him.
• Anil Kumble’s jersey number was 8.
• Anil Kumble's first Test cricket victim was Alan Lambe.
• Anil Kumble's average bowling speed was 100 KMPH.

Career Stats