Picking 100 wickets at the Test arena is always a special achievement for any bowler. Be it the pacer or the spinner, both have to toil hard for every wicket, for nothing is served free on the platter at the international level. Given the multi-day nature of the format, the bowlers do have time on their hands to set up a batsman and lure him into making a mistake, picking his wicket. Off-field strategies and clever on-field execution, both have a bearing on the success which a bowler achieves at the highest level.
A game of cricket is just like playing the indoor game of chess, where instead of the pieces, it is real-life players, who outfox each other to come out on top. The history of the sport has seen several successful bowlers, who endured similar success both at home and overseas conditions. We will particularly focus on the spinners in the present article. In the below piece, we look at 6 Asian spinners to pick 100 wickets at the Test arena in fewer matches:
1. Yasir Shah – 17
The best leg-spinner to grace the field of cricket after the retirement of the spin wizard, Shane Warne, Yasir has stamped his authority for Pakistan at the Test arena. The wrist-spinner took just 17 matches to go past the 100 wickets mark and is breaking the newly established cliché that off-spinners dominate the red-ball format.
Be it playing in the hot and dry subcontinental conditions or cool and breezy overseas environment, Yasir has achieved a similar success and is the go-to-man for his captain in search of quick wickets.
His development in the batting department has been phenomenal, who is now considered a proper lower order batsman, contributing runs on a consistent basis. Seeing his present success, it is difficult to predict the landmark he can accomplish at the end of his career. The wrist-spinner has picked 235 wickets from 45 Tests at an average of 30.83 and economy rate of 3.19.
2. Ravichandran Ashwin – 18
The clever off-spinner, who has become the talk of the town after his recent success at the Test arena, Ashwin took 18 games to reach the 100 wickets mark. Having started his career as an opening batsman, Ashwin’s growth as a wicket-taking off-spinner has been meteoric.
Like every other spinner, Ashwin too enjoyed terrific success at home and fared poorly in overseas conditions. The lack of assistance and inefficiency to adapt to foreign wickets marked easy pickings for the batsmen against Ashwin, who also had to sit out owing to this dismal show.
But, after years of experience and have come across so many players, Ashwin mastered the art of off-spin and now there is no place in the world where the finger-spinner hasn’t achieved success. He has already surpassed Harbhajan in the wickets tally and may well overhaul Kumble if he continues at this rate. Ashwin has dismissed 394 batsmen from 76 games at an average of 25.20 and an economy rate of 2.82.
3. Saeed Ajmal – 19
Yet another great spinner from Pakistan, who used the finger spin to get the better of the batsmen, Ajmal took 19 games to pick 100 wickets at the Test arena.
Unlike the other off-spinners which played the game, Ajmal relied on doosra as a weapon to fox the batsmen and pick wickets. There was hardly any difference in the way he bowled his off-break and doosra which made it even more difficult for the batters to pick him and put away.
Even modern-day great batsman, Virat Kohli had some problems facing him and considered the off-spinner as one of the greatest the world had seen. Ajmal, however, couldn’t carry on for much longer as he was banned by the ICC for an illegal bowling action.
The offie snapped up 178 wickets from 35 Tests at an average of 28.10 and economy rate of 2.58.
4. Erapalli Prasanna – 20
One of the legendary off-spinners to have played the sport for the country, Prasanna took 20 matches to pick 100 wickets at the Test arena. Unlike many other spinners, Prasanna had control over his flight and was difficult to negotiate even on good batting wickets.
Prasanna always won the mind-games over his opposition batsmen, outwitting them even before the ball was delivered. He was one of those classical off-spinners, who could bowl tight spells all day long and remained patient for his wickets.
It is this consistency and readiness to do the hard grind which saw him achieve tremendous success and dominate the golden era of spin-bowling. Prasanna had scalped 189 wickets from 49 Tests at an average of 30.38 and an economy rate of 2.40.
5. Anil Kumble – 21
One of the greatest match-winner for India with the ball, Kumble achieved the 100 wickets feat in 21 games. Given his height, Kumble extracted a steep bounce off the wicket apart from the vicious spin.
Unlike the classical leg-spinners, Kumble was more inclined towards bowling ideal lines and lengths and getting the ball to spin off the cracks developed. As his career progressed, Kumble learnt the finer nuances of wrist-spin bowling and also worked on his googlies and variation in flight.
It is these minor tweaks which saw him outfox the batsmen even in their own backyard and the man raised his stature by notches, getting compared with the best in the business then, which included the likes of Muralitharan and Warne. Kumble had got rid of 619 batsmen from 132 Tests at an average of 29.65 and an economy rate of 2.69.
6. Subhash Gupte – 22
Considered the best leg-spinner during his playing days, Gupte completed the 100 wickets mark in 22 games. Just like a traditional leg-spinner, Gupte gave the ball plenty of flight and got it to spun sharply.
He was known for bowling impeccable lines and lengths and the googly was the most destructive weapon in his bowling arsenal. Though batsmen of those times were technically sound, they still found it tough to negotiate him, let alone scoring runs.
Possessing all the qualities asked of an ideal leg-spinner, Gupte’s career is a huge inspiration for those, who dream of spinning their way to Test match success. The legendary wrist-spinner had scalped 149 wickets from 36 Tests at an average of 29.55 and an economy rate of 2.34.
