Harbhajan Singh's fifteen wicket haul in a match

In the third and final Test match India v Australia at Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, 18-22 March 2001, Harbhajan Singh captured 8-84 and 7-133 for a match total of 15 for 217 in 80.1 overs. This feat (15 wicket or more) has been accomplished only on 11 previous occasions.

The best figure returned in a single innings of a Test was by England's Jim Laker with 10 for 53 against Australia at Old Trafford in 1956. Laker took 9-37 in the second innings of the match. Laker ripped through Australia's batting to claim 19-90 at Manchester - the best ever match bowling figures in Tests -dismissing star players like Harvey, Miller and Benaud along the way. Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble stepped into the record books with the 2nd best Test bowling performance of all time in one innings, when he took 10 for 74 in Pakistan's second innings in March 1999 at Delhi. Kumble became only the second bowler in Test history to claim ten in an innings. Interestingly, after Kumble had taken nine wickets, Srinath sportingly bowled two wides and kept bowling outside the off stump to allow Kumble his tenth wicket.

It is also interesting that throughout Test history, it is two spin bowlers only, who have ever taken ten wickets in an innings. In the light of day, in spite of all the pace-oriented eras, starring greats like Larwood, Miller, Lindwall, Hall, Trueman, Tyson, Lillee, Thomson, Hadlee, Imran, Wasim, Walsh and the many other West Indians of the 70s and 80s, it is refreshing that an off-spinner and a leg-spinner are top of the pile.

The complete list of bowlers who have taken 14 or more wickets in a Test and eight or more wickets in an innings follows:

Test Match Cricket - Best Innings Bowling

10-53 JC Laker - England v Australia at Manchester 1956 10-74 A Kumble - India v Pakistan at Delhi 1998-99 9-28 G A Lohmann - England v South Africa at Johannesburg 1895-96 9-37 JC Laker - England v Australia at Manchester 1956 9-52 RJ Hadlee - New Zealand v Australia at Brisbane 1985-86 9-56 Abdul Qadir - Pakistan v England at Lahore 1987-88 9-57 DE Malcolm - England v South Africa at The Oval 1994 9-65 M Muralitharan - Sri Lanka v England at The Oval 1998 9-69 JM Patel - India v Australia at Kanpur 1959-60 9-83 Kapil Dev - India v West Indies at Ahmedabad 1983-84 9-86 Sarfraz Nawaz - Pakistan v Australia at Melbourne 1978-79 9-95 JM Noreiga - West Indies v India at Port-of-Spain 1970-71 9-102 SP Gupte - India v West Indies at Kanpur 1958-59 9-103 SF Barnes - England v South Africa at Johannesburg 1913-14 9-113 HJ Tayfield - South Africa v England at Johannesburg 1956-57 9-121 AA Mailey - Australia v England at Melbourne 1920-21 8-7 G A Lohmann - England v South Africa at Port Elizabeth 1895-96 8-11 J Briggs - England v South Africa at Cape Town 1888-89 8-29 SF Barnes - England v South Africa at The Oval 1912 8-29 CEH Croft - West Indies v Pakistan at Port-of-Spain 1976-77 8-31 F Laver - Australia v England at Manchester 1909 8-31 FS Trueman - England v India at Manchester 1952 8-34 IT Botham - England v Pakistan at Lord's 1978 8-35 GA Lohmann - England v Australia at Sydney 1886-87 8-38 LR Gibbs - West Indies v India at Bridgetown 1961-62 8-38 GD McGrath - Australia v England at Lord's 1997 8-43* AE Trott - Australia v England at Adelaide 1894-95 8-43 H Verity - England v Australia at Lord's 1934 8-43 RGD Willis - England v Australia at Leeds 1981 8-45 CEL Ambrose - West Indies v England at Bridgetown 1989-90 8-51 DL Underwood - England v Pakistan at Lord's 1974 8-52 V Mankad - India v Pakistan at Delhi 1952-53 8-53 GB Lawrence - South Africa v New Zealand at Johannesburg 1961-62 8-53 RAL Massie - Australia v England at Lord's 1972 8-53 ARC Fraser - England v West Indies at Port-of-Spain 1997-98 8-55 V Mankad - India v England at Madras 1951-52 8-56 SF Barnes - England v South Africa at Johannesburg 1913-14 8-58 GA Lohmann - England v Australia at Sydney 1891-92 8-58 Imran Khan - Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Lahore 1981-82 8-59 C Blythe - England v South Africa at Leeds 1907 8-59 AA Mallett - Australia v Pakistan at Adelaide 1972-73 8-60 Imran Khan - Pakistan v India at Karachi 1982-83 8-61* ND Hirwani - India v West Indies at Madras 1987-88 8-64* L Klusener - South Africa v India at Calcutta 1996-97 8-65 H Trumble - Australia v England at The Oval 1902 8-68 W Rhodes - England v Australia at Melbourne 1903-04 8-69 HJ Tayfield - South Africa v England at Durban 1956-57 8-69 Sikander Bakht - Pakistan v India at Delhi 1979-80 8-70 SJ Snooke - South Africa v England at Johannesburg 1905-06 8-71 GD McKenzie - Australia v West Indies at Melbourne 1968-69 8-71 SK Warne - Australia v England at Brisbane 1994-95 8-71 AA Donald - South Africa v Zimbabwe at Harare 1995-96 8-72 S Venkataraghavan - India v New Zealand at Delhi 1964-65 8-75* ND Hirwani - India v West Indies at Madras 1987-88 8-75 ARC Fraser - England v West Indies at Bridgetown 1993-94 8-76 EAS Prasanna - India v New Zealand at Auckland 1975-76 8-79 BS Chandrasekhar - India v England at Delhi 1972-73 8-81 LC Braund - England v Australia at Melbourne 1903-04 8-83 JR Ratnayeke - Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Sialkot 1985-86 8-84* RAL Massie - Australia v England at Lord's 1972 8-84 Harbhajan Singh - India v Australia at Chennai 2000-01 8-85 Kapil Dev - India v Pakistan at Lahore 1982-83 8-86 J Srinath - India v Pakistan at Calcutta 1998-99 8-86 AW Greig - England v West Indies at Port-of-Spain 1973-74 8-87 MG Hughes - Australia v West Indies at Perth 1988-89 8-92 MA Holding - West Indies v England at The Oval 1976 8-94 T Richardson - England v Australia at Sydney 1897-98 8-97 CJ McDermott - Australia v England at Perth 1990-91 8-103 IT Botham - England v West Indies at Lord's 1984 8-104* AL Valentine - West Indies v England at Manchester 1950 8-106 Kapil Dev - India v Australia at Adelaide 1985-86 8-107 BJT Bosanquet - England v Australia at Nottingham 1905 8-107 NA Foster - England v Pakistan at Leeds 1987 8-112 GF Lawson - Australia v West Indies at Adelaide 1984-85 8-126 JC White - England v Australia at Adelaide 1928-29 8-141 CJ McDermott - Australia v England at Manchester 1985 8-143 MHN Walker - Australia v England at Melbourne 1974-75 8-164 Saqlain Mushtaq - Pakistan v England at Lahore 2000-01

* on Test debut