Anil Kumble Birthday Special: Lesser-Known Facts About Former Indian Spinner As He Turns 52

Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer, who played in the Test and ODI formats for the Indian national team over an international career of 18 years. He was regarded as one of the best leg-spin bowlers in Test cricket. Kumble was not a big turner of the ball, while delivering he mainly relied on pace, bounce, and accuracy. He is the fourth-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket, with a total of 619 wickets in 132 test matches. Kumble currently is the head coach and Director of Cricket Operations of Punjab Kings and also commentates on Team Indias and IPL matches. Virender Sehwag Reveals How Anil Kumble Revived His Career and Saved Harbhajan Singh’s Too.

Kumble was born in Banglore, Karnataka on October 17, 1970, he made his first-class debut at the age of 19 for the Karnataka Cricket Team. A couple of years later he made his international debut against Sri Lanka in the 1990 Austral-Asia Cup and later in the year he also made his Test debut against the England side. He became a part of the regular ODI team during the early 90s and played many amazing bouts. In 1996 he was selected for the World cup and emerged as the most successful bowler of the tournament, he played seven matches and took 15 wickets with an average of 18.73 runs. He announced his retirement in November 2008 and played for Royal Challengers Bangalore from 2008-10.

The cricket legend and former Indian captain, Anil Kumble will be celebrating his 52nd Birthday on October 17. So let's take a look at some of the lesser-known facts about him

# Kumble is the fourth-highest wicket-taker in test cricket with a total of 619 wickets

# In 1999 in a match against Pakistan he dismissed all ten batsmen in a Test match innings and became the second player ever to achieve his feat alongside Jim Laker

# He also has the second-most outstanding bowling analysis in Test cricket, as he took 10 wickets for 74 runs in an innings

# The leg spinner has reached the five-wicket haul on 35 occasions in Test cricket and twice in ODIs

# Kumle also holds the record for most wickets taken by lbw in test cricket, a total of 156 wickets

# He also has the third Outstanding Bowling analysis in ODI cricket, taking 6 wickets for 12 runs against the West Indies side

# Having played any T20I matches Kumble still ranks third on the most wickets taken in a career, all three formats combined with a total of 956 wickets

# Kumble ranks second on the most wickets taken caught and bowled with a total of 53 in all three formats combined

# In 1995 Kumble was awarded the Arjuna award by the Indian government

# Anil Kumble has also been honoured with the Padma Shri in 2005

Anil Kumble announced his retirement from international cricket in November 2008 but continues to play in domestic competitions. the veteran spinner played for Royal Challengers Bangalore from 2008-10.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 17, 2022 12:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).