Anil Kumble: Top five cricketing moments

2. 6/12 vs West Indies, Kolkata, 1993

This match established the 23-year old leg-spinner as one of the rising stars in a new-look Indian ODI outfit, as he wove a web on a wearing pitch against a completely befuddled West Indies squad.

Skipper Mohammad Azharuddin and Vinod Kambli had done their part with the bat – the latter scoring a half-century – in the face of typical hostile bowling from Anderson Cummins and the giant Curtly Ambrose.

At one stage, it looked as if Brian Lara was going to single-handedly trump the home team, but Tendulkar castled him for 33, and thereafter, it was Kumble all the way.

He began by dismissing Roland Holder – the first player to be given out bowled by the third umpire- and then compounded the misery of the Calypsos by getting one to take the edge of Jimmy Adams’ blade, resulting in a diving catch by Azhar. Cummins was the next to go, bowled through the gate, and the Bangalorean then trapped Carl Hooper in front of the wicket.

He returned to wipe off the tail, cleaning up Ambrose and Winston Benjamin to complete a six-wicket haul, conceding only four runs in just 26 deliveries. This speaks volumes of the amount of danger he possessed on a rank turner, but it also underlined India’s key strength: spin.