On this day in 2008: Anil Kumble takes his 600th Test wicket
Anil Kumble will never forget the date 17th January 2008. It was on this day that the leg-spinner traversed a peak that no Indian bowler has traversed hence. As Andrew Symonds edged the delivery bowled by him, Rahul Dravid completed a very significant catch at slip. Kumble looked up at the heavens. It was his 600th scalp in Test cricket, a feat which only four other men in the history of Test match cricket have ever achieved.
The Third Test got underway at Perth after so much drama in the previous Test in Sydney, a Test that became infamous for the ‘MonkeyGate’ incident involving Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds and a slew of umpiring blunders by Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson. It was amidst all this cacophony that the third Test at Perth got underway, with India 0-2 down.
India won the toss and decided to bat first. Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar were involved in a match-winning partnership of 139 runs for the third wicket. While the ‘Master Blaster’ scored a classy 71, Dravid top-scored for India with 93, as India ended their first innings with a score of 330 on the board.
600 Test Wickets#OnThisDay in 2008, @anilkumble1074 took his 600th Test Wicket at WACA.
Symonds c Dravid b Kumble !
Kumble’s milestone wickets
1st: A Lamb
100th: M Crowe
200th: Mbangwa
300th: M Hoggard
400th: S Katich
500th: S Harmison
600th: A Symonds
619th: M Johnson pic.twitter.com/5qbnZQvNZ6— Cricketopia (@CricketopiaCom) January 17, 2020
In the bowling department, it was the ‘left-armers’ day out, as two Indian left-arm seamers, Irfan Pathan and RP Singh scalped 6 wickets between them as the Kangaroos were bundled out for just 212 in their first innings. Andrew Symonds top-scored for the Aussies with a 70-ball 66.
In the second innings, VVS Laxman’s mellifluous 79 and Irfan Pathan’s 64-ball 46 allowed India to post 294. That left the Aussies with a nearly impossible target of 413 to win the match. Australia fought hard, with Michael Clarke and Mitchell Johnson scoring fifties. However, the target was out of reach for the Australians, as they were shot out for 340. Irfan Pathan was the star with the ball in the second innings for India, picking up three wickets. India won the match by 72 runs at Perth to record their first victory of the series.
But then, this Test match will be remembered as the match where Anil Kumble achieved a colossal feat, a feat that has not yet been matched by any other Indian cricketer. Kumble took a total of 4 wickets in the match.
