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Spinner opening bowling for India

By Rajneesh Gupta
November 04, 2004 16:02 IST
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Harbahajan Singh on Thursday opened the bowling with Zaheer Khan. This provided the rare instance of a spinner opening the bowling for India.

Scorecard | Day 1 highlights

A regular scene in Indian cricket in the seventies, this has not happened atleast for quite some time. In fact the last time a spinner opened for India was Anil Kumble against South Africa at Bangalore in 1999-00.

The following table lists the instances of a spinner/non-regular bowler opening the bowling for India in a Test since Kapil Dev's made his debut in 1978.

Bowler 1 Bowler 2 Opponent Venue Season Remarks
Kapil Dev M Amarnath Pakistan Faisalabad 1978-79 Kapil's debut Test
Kapil Dev SM Gavaskar Pakistan Lahore 1978-79
Kapil Dev DR Doshi Australia Melbourne 1980-81 Despite presence of Karsan Ghavri
Kapil Dev SM Patil New Zealand Auckland 1980-81
Kapil Dev RJ Shastri West Indies Bombay 1983-84
Kapil Dev M Amarnath England Kanpur 1984-85
Kapil Dev RJ Shastri Australia Sydney 1985-86 Despite presence of Chetan Sharma
Kapil Dev M Amarnath Pakistan Jaipur 1986-87
Kapil Dev M Amarnath Pakistan Ahmedabad 1986-87
Kapil Dev M Amarnath West Indies Madras 1987-88 Hirwani's debut Test
Kapil Dev Arshad Ayub New Zealand Bangalore 1988-89
MM Prabhakar A Kumble England Madras 1992-93 Despite presence of Kapil Dev
J Srinath SC Ganguly Australia Calcutta 1997-98
Harvinder Singh SC Ganguly Australia Bangalore 1997-98
J Srinath SC Ganguly New Zealand Kanpur 1999-00
J Srinath A Kumble South Africa Bangalore 1999-00
Zaheer Khan SC Ganguly Australia Madras 2000-01
J Srinath SC Ganguly England Bangalore 2001-02
Zaheer Khan Harbhajan Singh Australia Mumbai (WS) 2004-05
Note: Only the first-innings performances have been taken into consideration
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Rajneesh Gupta

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