5 Indian bowlers who have picked up all 10 wickets in an innings in first-class cricket

Taking 10 wickets in a first-class innings isn't easy. While the feat might have been achieved 80 times in the history of first-class cricket, that doesn't make it any less difficult. While everybody rememers Jim Laker's 10 wickets against Australia and Anil Kumble's 10-fer against Pakistan in Tests, there are plenty more, who have done that in first-class cricket.In fact, Kumble was the fourth Indian to a claim 10 wickets in an innings in first-class cricket. While he may be the only one to have done it Tests, there are the four Indians who have also achieved that incredible feat apart from him.Here are the 5 Indian bowlers who have picked up all 10 wickets in an innings in first-class cricket:

#1 Subhash Gupte

Gupte was one of India’s greatest leg-spinners

It is not every day that one of the world's finest all-rounders calls you an Indian bowler the greatest leg-spinner of all-time. But that is precisely what happened to the late Subhash Gupte in the legendary West Indian all-rounder Garry Sobers' autobiography.

In an international career spanning 10 years, he picked 149 wickets in 36 matches, with an average of almost 5 wickets a match. An immaculate line and length bowler, who gave the ball plenty of air and was a big spinner of the ball, Gupte will always be one of the finest spinners India have ever produced.

His biggest claim to fame will be when he took all ten wickets for the President's XI against a combined XI of Pakistan Services and Bahawalphur CC in 1954. He finished with figures of 10/78 and almost repeated the feat in the 1958-59 series against West Indies.

Although the Windies won the 5-match series 3-0 and Gupte registered his worst ever average in a series (42.13), he almost made history he repeated his feat of picking up all 10 wickets, only this time in Tests. Had the keeper held onto a catch off Lance Gibbs, Gupte's best Test figures would have been 10 wickets and not 9 for 102.

He passed away in 2002, at the age of 71, but he will always be remembered for being the first Indian to claim all 10 wickets in an innings in first-class cricket.

#2 PM Chatterjee

Chatterjee was unlucky to not have played for India

It is not often that a bowler, who takes all 10 wickets in a first-class match does not go on to represent his country. But that is precisely what happened with left-arm medium pacer Premangsu Mohan Chatterjee. His figures of 10-20 for Bengal against Assam in the 1956/57 season is the third-best figures in the history of first-class cricket.

It was not as though the warning signs weren't there before. In the 1955/56 season, he picked up 15 wickets in the Ranji semi-final against Madhya Pradesh and helped them reach the final. Although Bengal lost it to Bombay, Chatterjee still picked up a seven-wicket haul in the first innings.

While his figures of 19-11-20-10 will go down into the record books as the best figures by an Indian in first-class cricket, he will go down as one of India's unluckiest players. Despite his penchant for swinging the ball and some ridiculous records, he never got to play for India.

#3 Pradeep Sunderam

Image courtesy: Midday

While the first two instances of Indians taking 10 wickets in an innings came in the space of three seasons, there was a 30-year wait before it happened again. This time, it was courtesy of a fast bowler from Rajasthan with the same figures as Subash Gupte in a Ranji Trophy match against Vidarbha in Jodhpur.

Pradeep took after his father, GR Sunderam, who was also a fast bowler for Rajasthan. But while his father went on to play two Tests for India, Pradeep was never that lucky as he didn't come close to a national selection despite, at the time, being one of only three Indian bowlers to have taken 10 wickets in a first-class match.

Pradeep finished with more wickets than his father but the match he will cherish forever came in the 1985/86, where he took 10/78 against Vidarbha. After playing first-class cricket for almost 10 years, Pradeep vanished from the scene, but fans of Rajasthan are unlikely to forget his heroics in a hurry.

#4 Anil Kumble

Kumble was India’s greatest spinner

India has produced several great spinners over the years, but in terms of sheet impact on the team and ability to win matches on their own, there aren't many better than Anil Kumble. In an illustrious career, that saw him claim almost every Indian bowling record, from the most Test wickets to the most ODI wickets, he also became only the second player to take 10 Test wickets.

He might have plenty of records to his name, but the record of being the first and till date only Indian to take all ten wickets in a Test innings will probably go down as his finest. That it was against arch-rivals Pakistan, in his favourite venue, Ferozshah Kotla and helped India win by a massive 212 runs only will only add more gloss to an already glittering achievement.

Only Jim Laker, who was born today, had achieved the feat in Tests and since Kumble's haul in 1999, no bowler has managed it. Kumble’s figures of 10-74 in 26.3 overs was the first time in 43 years and 1015 Tests that someone had managed to Laker’s feat against Australia in 1956.

He was on a hat-trick twice in the match but although he never got a hat-trick in the game, one assumes he wouldn't want to swap it for his 10-wicket haul.

#5 Debashish Mohanty

Mohanty flattered to deceive in the international arena

Just two years after Kumble's historic achievement, Debashish Mohanty managed the same, albeit in a Duleep Trophy encounter for East Zone against South Zone in the Bir Bikram College Stadium in Agartala.

Although it was a green top, South Zone had four Indian internationals and two of them went by the name of a certain Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. Still Mohanty, who was an Indian international himself was keen to make the most of the helpful conditions.

And boy did he do that as he got rid of the openers and Dravid quickly, before going on a rampage that saw him finish with 10-46 and become only the fifth Indian bowler to take 10 wickets in an innings in a first-class match.

His heroics helped bowl South Zone out for 113. But Javagal Srinath hit back with a six-wicket haul and bowled out East Zone for just 124. But Mohanty took 4 more in the second innings and East Zone eventually won by four wickets, chasing 167.

Unfortunately for Mohanty that was as good as it got. And his was a career that was filled with unfulfilled potential. Then again, there is no denying that for one day in Agartala, Mohanty managed to beat the best and help his side claim victory.