Most wickets by an Indian in a single Test match

Ravichandran Ashwin
Ashwin picked up figures of 13/140 against New Zealand in the recently concluded third Test 

India were already leading New Zealand 2-0 as they went into the third Test at Indore. A whitewash would have given Virat Kohli’s men the No.1 spot in Tests again and he had precisely the weapon to take him there.

Offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin was once again brilliant in the game returning career-best figures of 13/140. If India would have lost the Test, Pakistan, who are currently playing West Indies could have overtaken them to the top position but then India were not in any mood to give up easily.

The match was set up by a brilliant 211 from captain Virat Kohli and then it was all about the ‘Ashwin show’. The Tamil Nadu spinner started off by dismissing opener Tom Latham and castling rival captain Kane Williamson with a big turner. He also accounted for the two middle-order mainstays Ross Taylor and Luke Ronchi. Ashwin finally finished with innings figures of 6-81.

In the second innings too Ashwin started from where he had left off and ran through the New Zealand batting order in a hurry. He once again got rid of the likes of Williamson, Taylor and Ronchi before dismissing Trent Boult to finish off in style.

Ashwin was not only given the man-of-the-match award but he was also adjudged the man-of-the-series for his 27 wickets from the three matches.

Here we look at five other Indian bowlers who have taken the highest wickets in a single Test match

#5 Vinoo Mankad, 13/131 versus Pakistan, 1952

vinoo mankad
Vinoo Mankad (right) shaking hands with Queen Elizabeth II at Lord’s before a Test match

It was the first Test between India and Pakistan in October 1952. Vinoo Mankad opened the innings but only managed to get 11 runs while batting. But he more than made up for it while bowling where he picked up figures of 8/52. Among his victims were the great Hanif Mohammad and Imtiaz Ahmed. His left-arm spinners were too good for the lower order batsmen also who did not last much long. Pakistan were skittled out for 150 and were asked to follow-on.

Mankad was at his stupendous best again and accounted for five rival batsmen. His five scalps then included the likes of opener Nazar Mohammad and middle-order bat Maqsood Ahmed. He once again mopped the tail to gift India an emphatic win by an innings and 70 runs. Mankad featured in 44 Tests from where he scored 2109 runs but he also picked 162 wickets including the one he picked in the Pakistan Test match.

#4 Javagal Srinath 13/132 versus Pakistan, 1999

Javagal Srinath
Srinath celebrates after dismissing Shahid Afridi (Image Courtesy: Omni Pundit)

It was the first Test match between India and Pakistan of the Asian Test Championship in the year 1999 which was played at the historic Eden Gardens. Pakistan had won the toss and they elected to bat on a flat looking Eden surface, but soon it was all about the Indian pacer stealing the limelight.

The right arm seamer bagged the likes of Shahid Afridi and Ijaz Ahmed and then wrecked havoc in the middle order sending back the likes of Salim Malik and Azhar Mahmood. Srinath grabbed figures of 5-46 as Pakistan were bundled out for 185.

India in reply managed to get to 223. Srinath was the lone warrior for his team in the second innings picking up 8-86 as Pakistan got past 300 and set the hosts a stiff target of 279. India lost the match by 46 runs with Shoaib Akhtar picking up 4/47.

#3 Anil Kumble 14/149 versus Pakistan, 1999

Anil Kumble
Kumble appealing for the wicket of Wasim Akram (Image Courtesy: The Cricket Monthly)

If someone would have told Anil Kumble, you are going to have a 10-wicket haul in an innings of a Test match, the leg-spinner would surely have laughed it off. But in 1999 such a distant dream came true for the spinning magician. It was the second Test between India and Pakistan which was being played at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground.

The track was turning and Kumble was able to get rid off four Pakistan batsman in the first innings. India batted brilliantly in both their innings and set Pakistan a mammoth target of 420 runs. And then it was all about the tweaker weaving his magic around the Pakistani batsmen. He started off by sending back the dangerous Shahid Afridi and then slowly but steadily ran through the batting order. His last victim was Wasim Akram who was caught at shortleg by VVS Laxman. Kumble not only finished with match figures of 14/149 but made sure he booked a place in the history books too.

#2 Harbhajan Singh 15/217 versus Australia, 2001

Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan celebrates one of his dismissals during the game

People often say this was the series which changed the face of Indian cricket. A series which helped India look into the eye and say we can beat the best. After an emphatic win at the Eden Gardens in the second Test, which also was the leveler, the stage had shifted to Chennai where the decider was supposed to be played.

Australia batting first scored a massive 391. Harbhajan was the only star for India with the ball as he picked up 7/133. In the second innings too the Turbanator took on the responsibility of cleaning up the Aussies. All except Mathew Hayden and Justin Langer fell to the flight and guile of the young offspinner as he finished with figures of 8/84 in the second innings. India almost made a meal of the run-chase but got there with two wickets to spare and lift the Border-Gavaskar trophy.

#1 Narendra Hirwani 16/136 versus West Indies, 1988

narendra hirwani
Hirwani just took 50 wickets in the next 16 Test matches

The legspinner was an one-season wonder for India who reset record books but then faded away into oblivion soon after. In 1988, Hirwani was a bespectacled 19-year-old and like any youngster wanted to impress on his debut. India were facing West Indies on an underprepared surface at the Chepauk and it was Kapil Dev’s heroics which got the hosts to a respectable score of 382 in the first innings.

Hirwani got his chance to bowl very early in the innings and with his big legspinners foxed most of the West Indies batsmen. He even dismissed the great Vivian Richards in both the innings. West Indies were set a target of 416 by the hosts but it was Hirwani once again who ensured they did not even get close to the score picking up 8/75 as a follow up to his 8/61 in the first innings.

Sadly he never could replicate the same again. In his next 16 Test he could only pick 50 Test wickets and was dropped from the team thereafter.

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Edited by Staff Editor