Top 5 batting performances in Tests by Indian spin legends
India is a country which has always been renowned for producing world class batsmen in cricket. The nation has produced some of the sport’s greatest ever batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, etc. Many of these great batsmen have stepped up on big occasions and delivered for India.
However, when the going got even tougher and India did not have wickets in hand, tail-enders have stepped up and rescued India quite a number of times. Many a time, such innings have been played by India’s spin department. So let’s take a look at the top five batting innings by Indian spinners.
#5 Anil Kumble, 58 vs England at Nagpur, 2006
Anil Kumble is considered to be one of the greatest spinners in the history of the game but he was also a pretty handy batsman down the order and has rescued India on a couple of occasions through his batting. One such innings came against England in 2006 at Nagpur. Electing to bat first, England scored 393 in their first innings thanks to Paul Collingwood’s unbeaten 134 and Alastair Cook’s 60 in addition to some useful chippings from Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison.
In reply, India were off to a good start with Wasim Jaffer and skipper Rahul Dravid adding 129 for the second wicket. However, the moment their partnership was broken, India began to lose wickets in quick succession and from 140/1, were reeling at 190/7.
On the crease were Mohammad Kaif and Anil Kumble. Both Kaif and Kumble batted calmly and added 128 runs for the tenth wicket. Kumble recorded his fourth Test half-century and scored a calm innings of 58 from 168 deliveries which included ten boundaries. Kumble’s partnership with Kaif helped India to minimize England’s first innings lead and later proved out to be a crucial one as India drew the Test match.