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
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.