Sachin Tendulkar made his way to umpire A.V.Jayaprakash, and handed him a cap and sweater. The accessories were not his, but those of his teammate Anil Kumble.

India had to win the ongoing Test match to level the two-match series. The Pakistani openers Saeed Anwar and Shahid Afridi had raised the hundred in pursuit of a target of 420. India, Tendulkar reasoned, needed some luck. He set out to do that by acting as ‘delivery-boy’ between Kumble and the umpire.

India’s premier bowler had traditionally excelled at the Ferozeshah Kotla. On 7th February 1999, the onus was once again on him to stunt the flourishing Pakistani innings.

He had bowled most of his six wicket-less overs before lunch from the Football Stand End. He switched to the Pavilion End after the interval, having decided to keep things tight. The impetuous Shahid Afridi did not enjoy being tied down, and reacted by pushing at one that kissed his bat. Keeper Nayan Mongia did the rest Ijaz Ahmed, the new batsman, took a straight full-toss on his left toe, and was adjudged leg-before first ball. The score was 101-2.

Only fourteen had been added to the score when Inzamam-ul-Haq poked at a leg-break that kept low, only to inside-edge it into the wickets. Mohammad Yousuf survived a confident leg-before appeal. The pressure was now intense, with catchers huddled around the bat and Kumble having scented blood. It got to Yousuf, who thrust his front foot far too across and missed another straight delivery. There was absolutely no doubt in the umpire’s mind, and Pakistan were 115-4. Kumble had now taken four out of four.

Moin Khan was flummoxed by a leg-break that curled in, left him after pitching and took the outside-edge. Sourav Ganguly held an excellent catch at slips. At 127-5, the Pakistanis were virtually out of it, although Anwar was still there. Kumble sought to tackle him by altering his angles, switching from over-the-wicket to around and back. He bowled a leg-break that landed on the right length, bounced a bit more than the batsman anticipated, and went from the bat, via the pad, to VVS Laxman at short-leg.128-6.

Salim Malik and skipper Wasim Akram then added 58 before the leg-spinner struck again. Malik attempted to pull Kumble’s flipper, missed and heard the death-rattle. Mushtaq Ahmed got a brute of a delivery that kicked off a good length, and ballooned into the air off his glove. Rahul Dravid took the catch, and India were two wickets away from squaring the series. Kumble was the same number of wickets away from an extraordinary feat.

He greeted Saqlain Mushtaq with a ball that was full as full could be. It hit the batsman on the front pad, and there was never any doubt about the decision.

That one wicket set the pulses racing, on and off the playing arena. The spectators widened their eyes, and Javagal Srinath set himself to bowl the most wayward over of his international career. When it ended, Tendulkar once again sprinted towards Kumble, and then towards the umpire with the bowlers’s cap and sweater, as he had done intermittently during the innings. A wicket or two, had fallen every time he had done that! Akram survived the hat-trick ball. Kumble then served one on middle-and-leg. Akram got his bat to it, but not its meat. The ball went off the inside-edge, into Laxman’s waiting hands at square-leg. Thereafter, there was pandemonium.

By the time he came to terms with what he had achieved, Kumble had spent a few minutes on the shoulders of his teammates, shaken a few thousand hands and accepted the Man of the Match award. His figures read: 26.3-9-74-10.

It was only the second instance of a bowler taking all ten wickets in a Test innings, after Jim Laker’s 10-56 against Australia at Manchester in 1956.