All-time combined India-New Zealand ODI XI

#10 Anil Kumble

Anil Kumble is one of the tallest figures in the Indian cricket history both literally and figuratively

With a tally of 619 test wickets and 337 wickets in ODIs, leg-spinner Anil Kumble is one of the most prolific bowlers in the history of the game and the highest wicket-taker for India in both formats. He rarely got colossal spin like a Shane Warne or a Muttiah Muralitharan and so was not as fashionable as them to watch.

However, he made up for the lack of turn with his ingenuity. Surprisingly, he turned his ‘lack of spin’ from weakness into strength and many who derided him for the lack of spin later became his staunchest admirers.

Kumble had an effective flipper that hurried on to the batsmen castling them or catching them plumb in front of the wicket. Although Kumble’s spot became irregular in the ODI team in the post-2000 era because of the meteoric rise of Harbhajan Singh, he already did enough to be regarded as the greatest ODI spin bowler for India.

He was undoubtedly India’s numero uno spinner throughout the 1990s. Kumble prevails over Harbhajan Singh and Daniel Vettori who are other stiff competitors for the slot of the lone spinner in this team, due to his longevity and better wicket taking ability.