England’s experienced fast bowler James Anderson has overtaken India’s Anil Kumble and become the third highest wicket taker in Test match history. The 39 year old Anderson reached this landmark in the course of the first Test between England and India at Trent Bridge.
Anil Kumble had a total haul of 619 Test wickets and was in third place behind Mutiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka (800) and Shane Warne of Australia (708). But today James Anderson changed the scenario.
Playing against India, the tall pacer took two quick wickets, that of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli to draw level with Kumble’s tally of 619. Then Anderson went on to dismiss K.L. Rahul to move ahead of the former Indian captain. The record breaking wicket of Rahul came when the batsman edged a delivery from Anderson to Jos Buttler.
Anderson achieved this feat in his 163rd Test which was 31 matches more than Kumble. The fast bowler had recently reached another milestone – that of taking 1000 wickets in first class cricket. In Test cricket, Anderson is now the highest wicket taker among fast bowlers. The only other fast bowler in the top five is Glenn McGrath of Australia with 563 wickets.
Abhijit Sen Gupta is a seasoned journalist who writes on Sports and various other subjects.