Full name         : Anil Kumble

 Born                 : 17 October 1970, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

 Current age     : 36 years  

 Major teams    : India, ACC Asian XI, Karnataka, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire

 Batting style    : Right Hand Bat

 Bowling style   : Leg Break Googly





India's main strike bowler of the 90s, Anil Kumble, India's greatest spinner of all time, has taken upon the role of both stock bowler and shock bowler for many years now. Kumble has never been a big spinner of the ball but his accuracy and his enormous variety make him a difficult bowler to handle. Kumble came into the side as a relatively unknown 19-year-old on the tour of England in 1990, was promptly forgotten for a couple of years and was back in the team on the basis of an outstanding Irani Trophy performance in 1992-93. Subsequently on the tour of South Africa he really came of age, a major turning point being his bag of six for 53 in the second Test at Johennesburg.

He made his debut in 1990 against England. In just two years time he took his first five-wicket haul (6-53) against South Africa. In 1993-94, in the final of the Hero Cup against West Indies, he set the record of 6-12. The mid-nineties saw the surfacing of Anil Kumble as an established strike bowler. But even though he was a confirmed match-winner, he needed something that would take him to new heights. The moment arrived at the Ferozshah Kotla, in early February of 1999, when he single-handedly took all the Pakistani wickets in the second innings to become the second bowler in the history of Test matches to get 10 wickets in an innings. In December 2001, he got his 300th Test wickets. A year later, he reached the feat in one-dayers. In 2004-05 he went past 400 wickets in Tests. He became the first Indian bowler to reach 500 Test wickets, when he dismissed Steve Harmison in the Mohali Test.





Kumble's batting average in Tests makes him something of a bowling allrounder, though in the one-day game his nervy running between the wickets has negated hindered him. He catches well, often at gully, though his movements were once described by a commentator as those of "a man on stilts". In December 2001, on his home turf at Bangalore, Kumble became India's second bowler, and their first spinner, to take 300 Test wickets. A year later, almost to the day, he passed the same mark in one-dayers. Against Australia in 2004-05 he pushed the Test mark past 400 - also at Bangalore - then skittled the Aussies in the next Test at Chennai with a spell of 7 for 25. In March 2006, He became the first Indian bowler to reach 500 Test wickets, when he trapped Steve Harmison lbw in the Mohali Test.

No bowler in India's history has won more Test matches than Anil Kumble, and there probably hasn't been a harder trier either. An unorthodox, right arm leg spin bowler, this tall, bespectacled (now contact lens-ed), captain of Karnataka is India`s most effective strike bowler in both Tests and ODIs. The only bowler other than Jim Laker to take 10 wickets in an innings, a feat not easy to achieve.