Gritty Anil Kumble's top five rearguard batting

2. 88 vs South Africa (South Africa in India, Kolkata, 1996)

South Africa had piled a magnificent total of 428, batting first in the 2^nd test match of their India tour of 1996. India’s batting wasn’t up to the task, and Azharuddin, who scored a ton, was the only batter who got runs. India were once again in a spot of bother, when Kumble took the crease with the score reading 161/7. He stuck around, and both of them started building a partnership to save India from following on. They succeeded in doing much more than that- when Azhar got out caught & bold to Paul Adams, they had already doubled the team’s total. Kumble struck 13 boundaries.

This one South Africa went on to win by 329 runs because of superb batting in the next innings and some inspired bowling by Lance Klusener in the 4^th innings who claimed 8 wickets to take away all of India’s chances. The 3 match series was levelled 1-1.