This is a slightly awkward one, as we don't always know a bowler's figures at the close of play. But while that might affect the minor placings, it doesn't change the top spot: Muttiah Muralitharan took 9 for 51 on the first day of Sri Lanka's second Test against Zimbabwe in Kandy in 2001-02 (he had nine overnight but Chaminda Vaas nipped in to take the tenth wicket next morning). In second place is Pakistan's Abdul Qadir, who took 9 for 56 on the first day of the first Test against England in Lahore in 1987-88. Another legspinner, India's Subhash Gupte, took 9 for 102 on the first day of the second Test against West Indies in Kanpur in 1958-59. There have been three instances of spinners taking eight wickets on the opening day of a Test: the old England legspinner Len Braund (8 for 81 against Australia in Melbourne in 1903-04), slow left-armer Alf Valentine (8 for 104 for West Indies v England at Old Trafford in 1950, on his Test debut), and Murali again (8 for 87 for Sri Lanka v India in Colombo in August 2001).
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