IPL 2019: 3 best spells by Anil Kumble in IPL history

The most successful leg-spinner in the history of Indian cricket, Anil Kumble had been a part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise in the first 3 seasons of IPL. Representing his home franchise, Kumble played 42 IPL matches and picked 45 wickets at a miserly economy rate of 6.57.

He even captained the team in the 2009 and 2010 seasons after the team failed to perform well under Rahul Dravid's captaincy in 2008. Under his captaincy, RCB reached the IPL final in 2009 and finished in the third position in IPL 2010.

Kumble is known for his ability of outwitting the batsmen with his leg spin and so, he had later been recruited by Mumbai Indians as their head coach.

With the IPL season approaching, let's have a look at the top 3 spells of Anil Kumble in IPL history:

#3 3/14 vs Chennai Super Kings, IPL 2008

Anil Kumble helped Royal Challengers Bangalore defend 126 against the Chennai Super Kings

In the 46th match of the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League, Chennai Super Kings hosted the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. RCB batted first and skipper Rahul Dravid's knock of 47 runs helped the team post a total of 126 on the board at the loss of 8 wickets.

Chasing a small total of 127, Chennai got off to a stable start as Parthiv Patel and Stephen Fleming batted cautiously in the powerplay. They built a 60 runs partnership but Anil Kumble broke the stand in the tenth over by sending Parthiv back to the pavilion.

In the 14th over of CSK's chase, Kumble picked up the wickets of Fleming and S Badrinath to derail the home team's innings. Chennai suffered a collapse after that and succumbed to a 14 runs defeat as Anil Kumble walked away with the man of the match award.

#2 4/16 vs Deccan Chargers, IPL 2010 3rd place play-off

Anil Kumble's 4-wicket haul helped Royal Challengers Bangalore qualify for the Champions League T20

Anil Kumble led the Royal Challengers Bangalore to the semi-finals in the 3rd season of the IPL. But, the Bangalore franchise lost their semi-final match against Mumbai Indians and had to play a 3rd place play-off to qualify for the Champions League T20.

Their opponents were none other than Deccan Chargers, the team which defeated RCB in the 2009 IPL final. Anil Kumble led the RCB bowling attack from the front in that match as he picked up the wicket of Adam Gilchrist on the fourth ball of the match. With the captain back in the hut, Deccan Chargers kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and were reduced to 27/4 by the RCB bowlers.

Anil Kumble then dismissed DR Smith as the Chargers lost their 5th wicket in the 9th over of the innings. The lower order tried to take the team's total past 100 but Anil Kumble took 2 wickets in the 19th over to shatter the Deccan Chargers for a meagre 82 runs total.

This was the last IPL match of Anil Kumble's career and the legend won the man of the match award in his final IPL game.

#1 5/5 vs Rajasthan Royals, IPL 2009

The day when Anil Kumble proved his greatness

In the 2nd match of the 2nd edition of the Indian Premier League, Royal Challengers Bangalore faced off against the Rajasthan Royals in a "Battle Royale". RCB elected to bat first after winning the toss and Rahul Dravid's fine knock of 66 runs helped the Bangalore franchise set a target of 134 runs for the Rajasthan Royals at Cape Town.

Chasing 134, the Royals got off to a horrendous start as they lost half of their side with just 28 runs on the board. To make matters worse, Kumble was introduced in the attack and the Indian leggie cleaned up the remaining half of the Royals' side to bowl the defending champions out for a total of 58 runs. Anil Kumble came out with magical figures of 5/5 from that match.

He even bowled a maiden over in that spell but Rahul Dravid was adjudged the man of the match for his stupendous innings.

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