Spinners have a significant advantage in turning the ball on the Indian pitches, which are spin-friendly. They often imply a wide range of tactics like the off-spin, leg-spin, and left-arm spin, to take advantage of the turning conditions.
In addition, the spinners employ different flight, spin and pace variations to ruffle the batsmen’s feathers and thus, they create opportunities to take wickets when it matters the most. India have produced high-quality spinners so far. In this article, let’s take a glimpse at the three spinners with the most wickets for India in a calendar year.
1. Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh was one of the vital cogs of the Indian bowling set-up during the heydays of his cricketing career. Popularly known as “Turbanator”, Harbhajan Singh has bagged the most wickets for India in a calendar year.
In 2002, the former off-spinner accounted for 102 dismissals in international cricket. Overall, he has bagged 417 wickets in Tests, 269 wickets in One-Day Internationals and 25 wickets in Twenty20 Internationals. On the other hand, he took 25 fifers in Tests and 3 fifers in ODIs.
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2. Ravichandran Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin has been one of the terrific match-winners for India with regard to the longest format of the game. He is the second leading wicket-taker for India in Tests with 474 wickets.
Ravi Ashwin took as many as 97 wickets, which is the most by a bowler in the 2016 calendar year. The experienced campaigner has bagged 151 wickets in One-Day Internationals and 72 wickets in Twenty20 Internationals. It is worth noting that he bagged 32 fifers in Tests.
3. Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest spinners of all time. The former leg-spinner once stunned the cricketing universe by becoming the second bowler to take 10 wickets in a single Test inning after England’s Jim Laker.
Overall, he took 619 wickets in Tests and 337 wickets in One-Day Internationals. Anil Kumble took as many as 90 wickets in 1996, which is the most by an Indian bowler in that calendar year. Anil Kumble bagged 35 five-wicket hauls in Tests and two fifers in One-Day Internationals.
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