Muttiah Muralitharan tops the list of bowlers with the most number of wickets taken in all three formats of international cricket (combined) – Tests + ODIs + T20Is.
You can find Murali’s complete stats here to get your mind blown!
His fellow counterpart throughout his career, Shane Warne, comes 2nd in the list, followed by the English pacer, James Anderson.
The list has few changes when it comes to most wickets taken in home conditions.
Muralitharan convincingly headlines the chart for both ODI and Test format separately, whereas Bangladeshi all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan takes the top position in the T20 list. Sri Lanka’s Malinga is the first male cricketer to claim 100 wickets in the shortest format. However, things are a little different when you bring in the women cricketers inside the ring.
Let us look into the table of top 10 wicket-takers in cricket – all formats combined, followed by some interesting stats around the record.
| BOWLERS | TOTAL WICKETS | TEST | ODI | T20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muttiah Muralitharan (SL) | 1347 | 800 | 534 | 13 |
| Shane Warne (AUS) | 1001 | 708 | 293 | - |
| James Anderson (ENG) | 991 | 704 | 269 | 18 |
| Anil Kumble (IND) | 956 | 619 | 337 | - |
| Glenn McGrath (AUS) | 949 | 563 | 381 | 5 |
| Wasim Akram (PAK) | 916 | 414 | 502 | - |
| Stuart Broad (ENG) | 847 | 604 | 178 | 65 |
| Shaun Pollock (SA) | 829 | 421 | 393 | 15 |
| Waqar Younis (PAK) | 789 | 373 | 416 | - |
| Chaminda Vaas (SL) | 761 | 355 | 400 | 6 |
Key Stats
Among the current players, we have James Anderson and Stuart Broad on this list. Anderson is in his 40s now and will retire in a year or two, and Broad, currently 37, might have 3 to 4 years of cricket around him. So one can expect Broad to jump few places, especially in the Test list.
Another bowler, who is closing in, is Ravichandran Ashwin. The 34-year-old Indian off-spinner will fancy a chance of breaking into this chart soon. Here’s a prediction on how far will Ashwin go in terms of wickets.
Ashwin is also the all-formats combined leading wicket-taker in the last decade, i.e., from 2009 to 2019 – 562 wickets in total. You can find here, the most wicket-takers in each format in the last decade.
Muralitharan, the holder of the title “Most Wickets in International Cricket”, faced multiple challenges throughout his career due to his strange bowling technique.
The Sri Lankan legend also rules the most 5-for and 10-wicket hauls charts in Tests.
