Top 5 Indian leg-spinners of all time

#3 Subash Gupte

Shining light of India in the 1950s

Subash Gupte was a world class leg spinner who played for India regularly in the 50s and sporadically in the 60s. Some would argue that he was perhaps the finest of them all. Sir Garfield Sobers rated him above the great magician Shane Warne.

He was of a slight build, turned the ball alarmingly and was immaculate in his line and lengths. His career took off during the Indian tour of West Indies in 1952-53 while bowling to the three Ws. Gupte captured 27 wickets in Tests on that tour. He was the best Indian bowler on the tour to Pakistan in 1954-55. He decimated the Kiwis in the following home summer.

The 1956-57 home season was touted as a battle between Richie Benaud and him. Neil Harvey tackled him beautifully while Benaud mesmerized the Indian batsmen. He took his career best of 9 for 102 against the touring West Indies in Kanpur two seasons later. In all, he took 149 wickets in 36 Test matches at an average of 29.55 with 12 five-wicket hauls.

He took 65 wickets at an average of 28.52 away from home. He last played for India in 1961.