James Anderson achieved the feat during the third day of the opening Test match between England and India.
Follow Us
England pacer James Anderson on Friday surpassed legendary Indian spinner Anil Kumble to become the third-highest wicket-taker in the history of the longest format of the game. Anderson achieved the unique milestone on Day 3 of the opening Test against India, following the dismissal of KL Rahul who was looking confident following a half-century. Rahul’s departure marked the English pacer’s 620th dismissal in Test cricket, surpassing Kumble who bowed out of the game with 619 Test wickets. Anderson further accounted for the dismissal of Shardul Thakur to increase the tally of wickets to 621.
Legendary Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan leads the charts, having accounted for 800 dismissals. Australian cricketer Shane Warne is placed on the second spot in the list, with 708 dismissals to his credit. Glenn McGrath rounds off the top five list having accounted for 563 wickets.
Anderson equalled Kumble’s record in Test cricket on Thursday which marked Day 2 of the ongoing encounter, following the dismissal of Team India skipper Virat Kohli. The England pacer became the joint third-highest wicket-taker in the longest format of the game. Kohli’s dismissal marked the first time that Anderson had managed to dismiss the Team India skipper since 2014. He is only behind Kiwi pacer Tim Southee in the list of bowlers that have dismissed the Indian cricketer the most, with nine dismissals. Southee has 10.
“I feel like I’ve challenged Virat in that area before. He either played or missed or left it. He’s always been good enough to sort of get through and today it was just one of those days where he nicked it. Getting Kohli out that early was quite unusual,” said Anderson at the end of the day’s play.
“He’s such a big wicket. To bowl the ball exactly where I wanted it to and for him to nick it as well. It was just an outpouring of emotions to get the team back into the game. Getting their best player out is something that doesn’t happen all that often. To be honest it’s not really something that we thought about too much, particularly to him. What we try to do as a group is trying to challenge that fourth stump area, the defence as much as possible. Obviously to get a couple of quick ones like that is really important, especially with Virat being such an influential player for them. Always good to get him early,” added the England pacer.
Anderson is further the first-ever bowler to dismiss Kohli for multiple ducks in international cricket. The England pacer recorded this feat in Manchester (2014) and in the ongoing Nottingham encounter. Kohli further became the first Indian captain to record three first-ball ducks in Test cricket, after Anderson got the better of him. The 32-year-old has registered the most ducks by an Indian captain in Test cricket (9). MS Dhoni (8) and MAK Pataudi (7) are placed on the second and third spot respectively.
