Bowlers who picked 9 wickets in a Test innings

A team wins a Test match when it is able to take 20 wickets of the opposition. Teams are in dire need of bowlers who have the ability to pick those 20 wickets. Champion teams will always have good bowlers in the side.

On their days, some bowlers pick a lot of wickets. For instance, Jim Laker from England and Anil Kumble went on to pick all the 10 wickets in an innings. Jim Laker did it against Australia and Anil Kumble did it against Pakistan at Feroz Shah Kotla. Some bowlers came close to achieving this feat but fell short by a wicket.

Let us look at the bowlers who picked 9 wickets in an innings and almost came close to the historical feat.

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#1 Muttiah Muralitharan

The leading wicket-taker in Test matches went on to take 9 wickets in an innings on two occasions. In 1998 in a Test match against England in London in the second innings, Muralitharan picked 9 wickets but Alex Stewart was run out. In the first innings, he had picked 7 wickets. He ended the match with his best figures of 16/220.

In 2002 against Zimbabwe in the first innings, Muralitharan picked the first 9 wickets and he tried a lot to pick the last one but Vaas took the last one and Muralitharan missed the milestone yet again.

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#2 Jim Laker

In the very match in which Jim Laker picked 10 wickets in the second innings against Australia, he picked 9 wickets in the first innings. Only the 3rd wicket was not taken by him in the first innings. He finished the match with a gigantic figure of 19/90. It is still a world record.

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#3 GA Lohmann

In 1896, GA Lohman right arm medium fast bowler, playing for England against South Africa in the first match picked 15 wickets. He picked 7 wickets in the first innings and 8 in the second. In the second test match, he improved it further by picking 9 wickets in the first innings. In three consecutive innings, he picked 24 wickets.

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#4 Sir Richard Hadlee

One of the best player New Zealand has ever produced, Richard Hadlee in a Test match against Australia in 1985 in Brisbane picked 9 wickets in the first innings. Except for the 9th wicket, he took them all but missed the milestone. In the second innings, he picked 6 wickets only to end the match with the figures of 15/123, which are his best figures in Test matches.

#5 Abdul Qadir

The legendary legspinner from Pakistan in 1987 against England in Lahore picked all the wickets except the fifth one which was picked by Tauseef Ahmed in the first innings. In the second innings, he picked another 4 wickets making his match figures of 13/101. This was his best bowling performance and was awarded Man of the match.

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#6 Devon Malcolm

Against South Africa, in 1994 in London in the second innings, Devon Malcolm picked nine wickets and one wicket was taken by Darren Gough. He ended the match with his best figures of 10/137. His brilliant bowling performance in the second innings was responsible for England's victory which is why he was awarded with Man of the match award.

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#7 Jasubhai Patel

Jasubhai Patel played just 7 test matches. Against Australia in Kanpur in 1959 Jasubhai Patel in the first innings picked nine-wicket and one wicket was taken by Chandu Borde. In the second innings, he picked another five wickets. He ended the match with figures of 14/124, it is his best bowling performance. Because of his bowling performance, India was able to defeat Australia and he was awarded Man of the Match for his performance.

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#8 Kapil Dev

The best Indian allrounder, Kapil Dev, against West Indies in 1983 in Ahmedabad in the second innings he picked all the nine wickets except the first one, which was picked by Balwinder Sandhu. He continuously bowled from one end for 31 overs in the second innings. Even after his brilliant bowling performance, India lost the match due to poor batting in the second innings and his efforts went in vain.

#9 Sarfraz Nawaz

Sarfraz Nawaz, the legendary fast bowler from Pakistan against Australia in Melbourne in 1979 in the second innings picked nine wickets and one player got run out. He was a brilliant seam bowler and because of his bowling efforts in the second innings, Pakistan won the match by 71 runs.

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#10 Jack Noreiga

The West Indian spinner just played 4 Test matches for West Indies. In a match against India in Port of Spain in 1971, he picked 9 wickets except for Vinoo Mankad's in the first innings. Even after his brilliant performance, India was able to defeat the West Indies at their home soil.

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#11 Subash Gupte

The Indian legspinner against WestIndies in Kanpur in 1958 picked nine wickets except for the ninth wicket which was taken by Vasant Ranjane. But in the second innings, Gary Sobers took the match from India by scoring 198. He was, unfortunately, run-out on that score.

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#12 Sydney Barnes

Sydney Barnes, the England seamer against South Africa in Johannesburg in the first innings picked 8 wickets in 1913. In the second innings, he went on to improve his earlier performance by picking nine wickets. He ended with the figures of 17/159 which are second best after Jim Laker's 19 wickets. He was a brilliant bowler had a knack of picking wickets. In just 27 Tests he picked 189 wickets.

#13 Hugh Tayfield

The South African spinner Hugh Tayfield in 1957 in Johannesburg against England in the second innings picked nine wickets and won the match for South Africa by 17 runs. In the first innings, he had picked 4 wickets in total taking 13 wickets for 165 runs. It was a very close match and Tayfield's performance with the bowl shifted the match in South Africa's favor.

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#14 Arthur Mailey

Arthur Mailey was a brilliant leg-spinner. In Melbourne in 1921 against England picked 9 wickets in the 2nd innings. In the first innings, he had picked 4 wickets. He ended the match with his best figure of 13/236. His performance in the second innings helped Australia to win the Test match.

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#15 Rangana Herath

Rangana Hearth remained in the shadow of Muralitharan for most of his career. But after Murli's retirement he became the lead spinner and in 2014 against Pakistan in Colombo picked 9 wickets in the first innings, one wicket was taken by Dilruwan Perera.

In the second innings, he again picked a fifer and won the match for his team. He was awarded Man of the match for his performance. He ended the match with his big figures of 14/184.

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#16 Keshav Maharaj

In July this year against Srilanka in Colombo in the first innings, Maharaj picked 9 wickets and one wicket was taken by Rabada. In the second innings, he picked 3 of the five wickets that fell. He ended with his best figures of 12/283. Because of South Africa's dismal performance with the bat his efforts went in vain.