| Bowler | Matches to 400 Wickets | Time Taken |
|---|---|---|
| Muthiah Muralidaran (SL) | 72 | 9y 137d |
| Ravichandran Ashwin (IND) | 77 | 9y 110d |
| Richard Hadlee (NZ) | 80 | 17y 0d |
| Dale Steyn (SA) | 80 | 10y 225d |
| Rangana Herath (SL) | 84 | 18y 6d |
| Anil Kumble (IND) | 85 | 14y 58d |
| Glenn McGrath (AUS) | 87 | 8y 341d |
| Shane Warne (AUS) | 92 | 9y 233d |
| Wasim Akram (PAK) | 96 | 15y 141d |
| Harbhajan Singh (IND) | 96 | 13y 103d |
Muthiah Muralitharan became the fastest bowler to pluck 400 Test wickets in 72 matches in 2002. The Sri Lankan spin magician stands at the top of this list.
In doing so, he broke the record held by Richard Hadlee, who had taken 80 matches to reach the 400-wicket mark in 1990. Hadlee was also the first bowler to breach the 400-wicket milestone.
Ravichandran Ashwin came quite close to toppling Muralitharan’s record, reaching the mark in 77 matches—just 5 more than Muralitharan. While he reached the milestone in 9 years and 111 days (November 2011 to February 2021), he did not break the record for the fastest in terms of time taken, which is currently held by Glenn McGrath, who did it under 9 years from his Test debut.
Explore every Muralitharan cricket records here!
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