Most wickets in ODI cricket: Anil Kumble (Asia/IND)
Anil Kumble's unique style produced stunning success all across the globe and made him one of the greatest spinners of all time.
Regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time, Anil Kumble represented the Indian national cricket team over an international career of close to two decades. When a 20-year-old bespectacled boy made his international debut, not even he would have imagined the highs he would see in his career. Kumble's remarkable stats of 956 wickets are noteworthy, but it doesn't tell the whole story about his impact on cricket and fans.
Nicknamed Jumbo, Kumble, standing tall at 6 ft 1 inches, bamboozled the batters with his fast leg spinners as his balls hacked through the air and came off the pitch with a venomous kick. His unique style produced stunning success all across the globe and made him one of the greatest spinners of all time.
While Kumble saw phenomenal success in Test cricket, his ODI stats are also a thing of amazement. The fact that Kumble was India's first spinner to bag 300 wickets says a lot about his ability and impact on limited-overs cricket. The iconic spinner translated his red-ball success in white-ball cricket.
Though Kumble became a household name with his heroics in Test cricket, his international debut came in a One-Day match in April 1990 against Sri Lanka.
Kumble was an integral part of the ODI team in the 1990s and produced some remarkable performances during this period. 1996 was a successful year for the Indian superstar. After being overlooked for the 1992 World Cup, Kumble was picked in the 1996 World Cup, jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. It proved to be a breakthrough tournament for the leg-spinner, who finished the tournament as the most successful bowler with 15 wickets in seven matches at an average of 18.73.
Anil Kumble ODI stats and records
During his 18-year-long career, Kumble played 271 matches and picked up 337 wickets at an average of 30.9 and an economy of 4.31. His figures of 6/12 against the West Indies in the Hero Cup in 1993 were the best bowling performance by an Indian bowler until Stuart Binny broke his record in late 2014.
Kumble ended his ODI career after India's disastrous campaign at the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean Islands, where the Men In Blue were knocked out in the group stages.
The Bengaluru bowler used to haunt the opponents with his subtle variations, which included the backspinning flipper and the unusual googly. Though he was not a big turner, his most potent weapons included the loopy, fast and flat yorkers which outfoxed the best of the best.