Kumble is only the second bowler to take all 10 wickets in a Test innings after Jim Laker.
Anil Kumble is the first Indian cricketer, and second overall after Jim Laker, to take 10 wickets in Test innings, which happened back in 1999 against Pakistan in Delhi. Kumble feels he wouldn't have taken time to get those ten wickets if there was Decision Review System (DRS) back then.
Talking to R Ashwin in a chat show on Youtube, 'DRS with Ash', Kumble said, “There were talks that AV Jayaprakash was from Bangalore but I think it’s wrong to attribute wickets or accuse the umpires of any sort of bias. If there was DRS, I would have probably gotten the 10 earlier. That’s how I look at it."
Kumble said he just wanted to make his previous record better after getting 6 wickets. He added that it was a team effort as India went on to win the match by 212 runs.
“When I took six out of six, there was a tea break. So, when I came back, I was a bit tired. Because I had bowled from lunch to tea, right throughout that spell. And at tea, I realized that there is a chance for me to get better than what I have done before. I never realized that I will get all 10,” Kumble said.
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“I don’t think you go into a game thinking you are going to get all 10. Although you try and prepare that way, saying that, how do I bowl from No 1 to No 11 in the team? But you never realize that you will get all 10. So, eight and nine happened with the fifth and sixth balls of that over. When I completed the over and went to my third man position people in the stands said ‘don’t worry you’ll get 10 wickets’."
“I didn’t have to have a word with Sree at all. All of them were trying to make sure I get 10. Sree bowled that over and I think probably it was a difficult over. As a bowler, it is very difficult to constantly tell your mind to bowl wide. Knowing Ramesh, don’t think he deliberately went after that catch. He wasn’t even aware. People around were screaming drop. The ball was away from Ramesh otherwise he would’ve probably taken that catch,” he added.
Kumble also revealed his plan which he had to change later. “In the next over Wasim Akram was on strike. He was batting for a while. So I decided to push mid-off, mid-on back so that he can take a single and I get a crack at Waqar. But after a couple of balls, I realized Wasim wasn’t going to take a single. So I brought the field in and decided that it has to be Wasim now. I can’t expect Sree to bowl another over like that. It was one of those things, Wasim played for the turn but the ball didn’t turn and it took the inside edge and Laxman took a good catch. So yes, it was a team effort. I was fortunate to pick up all those wickets,” he said.