Highest Wicket Takers in Test Matches

Highest Wicket Takers in Test Matches

Cricket is incomplete without the Bowlers as they are a crucial part of every cricket team. Bowlers can change the flow of a game and lead their team to win the match in a lot of circumstances. Especially in this long format, as most of the responsibility of winning the match depends on the bowlers. A lot of great bowlers participated in the History of Test Matches and each of them bagged a lot of wickets in the matches. Let’s look at the bowlers with the most number of wickets taken in the Test matches.

Muttiah Muralitharan

Sri Lanka’s bowler, Muttiah Muralitharan, has taken the most number of wickets in Test matches. In his career of 18 years, he had scored a total of 800 Test wickets in just 133 matches including 67 fifers which is the highest number in the history of Test Cricket. He was successful in taking the wicket of all the batsmen in the world in his era with his unique bowling action. This distinctive style among all the spinners in the world was also the reason for plaguing his career which was later cleared by ICC in 1996 and again1999. He played from 1992 to 2010 and bagged 8 wickets in the last game at Galle against India.

Shane Warne

One of the best leg spinners in the History of test matches that the world has ever seen, Shane Warne has troubled a lot of batsmen in the world with his bowling variations. He had unbelievable control of the ball that he bowled against batsmen, he was able to turn ball 3rd leg stump to off stump. Making his first test debut in 1992 against India no one expected him to bag more than 700 wickets by the end of his career.  He has grabbed a total of 708 wickets in 145 Test matches with 37 5-fer in 145 test matches he played for the Australian cricket team. He played his last match against England in 2007 and successfully bagged 2 wickets in his farewell match. Shane Warne is holding the record for second highest wicket-taker in test matches for 13 years.

James Anderson

Third Highest wicket-taker in the history of test matches, James Anderson has taken 651 wickets in 171 matches Including 31 fifers. He made his first test match debut in 2003 against Zimbabwe. The English faster bowler is popular for his ability to swing the ball which earned him the nickname “Swing King”. He made the batsmen dance by swinging the ball both ways with a decent pace of 135 km/hr. James Anderson is the only pace bowler to take more than 600 test wickets and the number of wickets he has taken will continue to increase he will play a few more years for the England team.

Also Read: Indian Bowlers with Most runs Against England in Test

Anil Kumble

The Indian bowler, Anil Kumble has taken the fourth highest wicket in the world in the history of Test Cricket. Kumble has taken 619 wickets with 35 five-wicket hauls in 132 matches. Kumble made his debut in the longest format of cricket in 1990 against England and continues to play for 18 years. The former captain of the Indian cricket team played his last match in 2008 against Australia. His bowling figure of 10/74 against Pakistan in 1999 at Delhi holds the record for the best bowling figure by a bowler in an innings in test cricket. When bowling anil would not spin the ball much and bowl with a pace over 100 km/hr which used to confuse the batsmen and took 16-17 years before they get aware of that.

Glenn McGrath

Glenn McGrath was part of Australia’s cricket team from 1993 to 2007. This Aussie legend made his debut in test matches against New Zealand in 1993 and by the end of his career, he was among the highest wicket-taker pace bowlers of Australia. He has bagged wickets from all the places he played with his admirable line, length, and swing. He has taken a total of 563 wickets with twenty-nine 5 wicket haul in 124 Test matches. Glenn has the achievement for the best bowling average of 21.6 among the top ten highest wicket-takers.

Highest Wicket Takers in Test matches History