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 | - |
| Tim Southee (NZ) | 776 | 391 | 221 | 164 |
Key Stats
Among the recent players, we have James Anderson, Stuart Broad, and Tim Southee on this list. All three have been retired.
Ravichandran Ashwin, the 34-year-old Indian off-spinner had chance of breaking into this chart, but ended up a little short. Here’s the numbers of Ravichandran Ashwin in international cricket with the ball.
Ashwin is also the all-formats combined leading wicket-taker in the last decade, i.e., from 2009 to 2019 – 562 wickets in total.
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-fors charts in Tests.
