Maiden overs are worth the good in white-ball cricket. A maiden over can put a lot of pressure on opposition batters, making them impatient and leading them to play reckless shots due to the pressure. We have frequently seen how these reckless shots result in a wicket.
Bowling continuous dot balls is an art in ODI cricket. Most maiden overs are usually bowled during the powerplay as 9 fielders are inside the 30 yards circle, and it’s not easy to take a single. Moreover, the balls also tend to swing in the powerplay, making it tough to rotate strike. Bowlers need to be disciplined and consistent with their lines and lengths. Find out the bowlers who have bowled the most maiden overs and dot balls in T20s and IPL here and here.
With ODI cricket evolving into a batsman’s game and the totals of 300s scored and repeatedly chased, maiden overs have become very rare in ODI cricket in this era – a reason why it is hard to find the names of any modern-day bowlers in the below list.
In this article, we will look at the top 10 bowlers who bowled the most maiden overs in ODI cricket
| BOWLERS | MAIDEN OVERS | INNINGS |
|---|---|---|
| Shaun Pollock | 313 | 297 |
| Glenn McGrath | 279 | 248 |
| Chaminda Vaas | 279 | 320 |
| Wasim Akram | 237 | 351 |
| Kapil Dev | 235 | 221 |
| Muttiah Muralidharan | 198 | 341 |
| Curtly Ambrose | 192 | 175 |
| Sir Richard Hadlee | 185 | 112 |
| Courtney Walsh | 185 | 204 |
| Ewen Chatfield | 155 | 112 |
Stats Insights
South African pacer Shaun Pollock has bowled the most maiden overs (313) in ODI cricket. He has bowled in 297 innings in his ODI career. Pollock was famous for his line lengths and attacking approach to attack the stumps. Glen McGrath has the best bowling strike rate (34) among these bowlers.
Among all the bowlers on the list, Sir Richard Hadlee has the best economy rate (3.30) in ODIs. Richard Hadlee also has the best bowling average (21.5). At the same time, Sri Lankan pacer Chaminda Vaas has the highest economic rate (4.18). Kapil Dev is the only Indian bowler on this list. Here’s how you calculate bowling average, strike rate, and economy rate in cricket.
Muttiah Muralidharan is the lone spinner on the list. It’s because spinners bowl outside the powerplay with field spread. It shows the greatness of Muralidharan. The Sri Lanka spinner has picked the most wickets in the history of ODI cricket.
When it comes to a single innings performance, Bishan Singh Bedi (India) and Phil Simmons (West Indies) have earned 8 maiden overs in a single ODI innings – the most by any bowlers. Bedi has the cushion of bowling 2 extra overs as ODI cricket was played with 60 overs in his time, whereas Simmons is the only bowler to bowl 8 maiden overs in his 10-over spell.
Related: Which bowler has taken more 5-fors in Test cricket?
