5 Indian bowlers with the most caught and bowled dismissals in Tests

The 'caught and bowled' is one of the rare modes of dismissals in Test cricket and the reasons for that are manifold, not least the tendency among batsmen to keep the ball down. On the other hand, the bowlers have to be decent fielders as well if they are to take those catches.

Although some of them might be lobbed, many others might actually be hard hits or require the bowler to move either way very quickly. Usually, spin bowlers get plenty of such chances for the simple fact that their entire craft is based on foxing the batsman and in case of India, the bowlers with the highest number of caught-and-bowled dismissals are all spinners. Here is a look at their records.

#5 Bishan Singh Bedi

Bishan Singh Bedi

As far as left-arm spin bowlers are concerned, there has been very few bowlers who have been as good as former Indian great Bishan Singh Bedi and over the course of his 12-year long career(1967-1979), he redefined the art of left-arm orthodox bowling. Bedi's bowling was centered around variations in length, turn, bounce and exceptional flight that used to fox the best batsmen in the world.

Needless to say, the number of errors he induced from batsmen was often quite high and Bedi snapped up nine catches off his own bowling during the course of his glittering career. He was not a particularly gifted fielder but it seems he was a safe catcher off his own bowling.

#4 Bhagwat Chandrasekhar

BS Chandrasekhar

He is one of the greatest spin bowlers to have ever played for India and according to many, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar himself often did not know what was going to come out of his hand. He was primarily a leg-spinner but bowled at a much quicker pace than normal spinners and often slipped in googlies, flippers, quicker deliveries and even bouncers if he felt like it.

His variation of pace, unpredictability, and lengths often induced false shots from batsmen. Naturally, some of those false shots ended up being caught by Chandrasekhar himself and in a career spanning 58 Test matches in which he took 242 wickets, 9 dismissals were caught-and-bowled. Admittedly, it is not significant but caught-and-bowled dismissals are not that frequent in Test cricket.

#3 Vinoo Mankad

Vinoo Mankad

He is the first great all-rounder that India produced and Vinoo Mankad is still regarded as one of the greatest cricketers to have ever donned the national Test cap. He was one of the earliest game-changing superstars for India and could turn a game with both the bat or the ball. He was a left-arm leg break bowler and regularly contributed towards the team's bowling effort back in the 1950s.

His career spanned around 13 years (1946-1959) and he played in 44 Test match, during the course of which he picked up 162 wickets. Mankad was an excellent fielder as well and during his career, he affected nine caught-and-bowled dismissals.

#2 Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh

The Indian off-spinning great debuted for the country back in 1998 when he was still a teenager and then over the next decade and a half, went on to become one of the world's leading spin bowlers. He remains one of the most successful spin bowlers in the history of the game with a total of 417 wickets in Test wickets and much of his success was dependent on his inventiveness as a bowler.

He could turn the ball on most pitches and also bowl the arm ball, in addition to the doosra. On wearing pitches, he could be an extremely troubling proposition for the batting sides. However, when it came to caught-and-bowled dismissals, his figures are not as high as one would expect. Out of 417 wickets, only 13 were caught-and-bowled and considering the fact that Harbhajan is a safe catcher, it can be safely said that he did not drop too many that came his way.

#1 Anil Kumble

Anil Kumble

He is quite simply the greatest bowler to have ever played for India and among the greatest spin bowlers to have ever played the game. When Anil Kumble first came along, he was best known for his devastating fast leg-breaks that completely made fools out of many batsmen in the game. Although he did not turn the ball much, he was incredibly accurate and could vary his pace and length to great effect.

He possessed a superb flipper and added the googly to his armoury later on in his career. Kumble was also a very safe catcher and it is not really a surprise that he holds the record for the highest number of caught-and-bowled dismissals in Test history, with a tally of 35. Although, he is best known for dismissing batsmen bowled or leg before, this is something that often goes under the radar when considering his dismissals.