Would have been embarrassing to ask Srinath to bowl one more over to aid 10-wicket haul, feels Anil Kumble

However, the over prior to Kumble completing the ‘perfect 10’, bowled by his good friend Javagal Srinath, was both hilarious and astonishing. With Kumble stranded on 9 wickets, and with Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis at the crease, Srinath tried his best to bowl as wide off the stumps as he could and remarkably escaped the over without taking a wicket. In the very next over, the stars aligned for Kumble as he dismissed Wasim Akram to complete the ‘perfect 10’. 

Recollecting the memorable moment, in an Instagram chat with Pommie Mbangwa, the legendary leg-spinner admitted that it would have been embarrassing for him to request Srinath to bowl another charity over and claimed that he was relieved to have taken the 10-fer in his 27th over. 

“He had to unlearn all his skills and bowl wide. But I didn’t ask him, believe me. I thought, ‘Let’s give Wasim a single.’ But I thought I had to get one that over, because it would have been embarrassing to ask one more. I was just destined. One down in a series, against Pakistan, just so special.”

“Till lunch, Pakistan had got off to a great start. I knew it was a matter of one wicket. After lunch, I changed ends. I got 1, then 2, and then it went on and on. I bowled non-stop from lunch to tea, but I was getting tired. I knew I had a great chance to better my previous best because I was six on six.”