When it comes to bowling with the red cherry in the hand, it becomes even more challenging. The bowlers don’t have to just bowl; they have to beat the batters and take all 20 wickets of the opponent.
Test cricket, the longest format of the game, requires top-notch skills, mental resilience, and physical endurance. Playing over 5 days might seem easy, but it isn’t.
It becomes hard to beat teams that possess bowlers with such capabilities. In this article, I will list the top 10 bowlers with the most wickets in Test cricket history.
Most Wickets in Test Cricket
| Player | Matches | Innings | Wickets | BBI | Avg | Econ | SR | 5/10 Wicket Hauls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muthiah Muralitharan (SL) | 133 | 230 | 800 | 9/51 | 22.72 | 2.47 | 55.04 | 67/22 |
| Shane Warne (AUS) | 145 | 273 | 708 | 8/71 | 25.41 | 2.65 | 57.49 | 37/10 |
| James Anderson (ENG) | 188 | 350 | 704 | 7/42 | 26.45 | 2.79 | 56.87 | 32/3 |
| Anil Kumble (IND) | 132 | 236 | 619 | 10/74 | 29.65 | 2.69 | 65.99 | 35/8 |
| Stuart Broad (ENG) | 167 | 309 | 604 | 8/15 | 27.68 | 2.97 | 55.79 | 20/3 |
| Glenn McGrath (AUS) | 124 | 243 | 563 | 8/24 | 21.64 | 2.49 | 51.95 | 29/3 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin (IND) | 106 | 200 | 537 | 7/59 | 24.00 | 2.83 | 50.73 | 37/8 |
| Nathan Lyon (AUS) | 131 | 245 | 532 | 8/50 | 30.40 | 2.93 | 62.08 | 24/5 |
| Courtney Walsh (WI) | 132 | 242 | 519 | 7/37 | 24.44 | 2.53 | 57.84 | 22/3 |
| Dale Steyn (SA) | 93 | 171 | 439 | 7/51 | 22.95 | 3.24 | 42.38 | 26/5 |
Key insights from the above stats
1039: The number of Test wickets taken by James Anderson and Stuart Broad while playing together in 138 Tests. This is the highest by a bowling duo, followed by Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath with 1001 wickets in 104 matches.
8: The number of players who have picked more than 500 Test wickets. Nathan Lyon is the latest entry to this elite list.
67 & 22: Sri Lanka’s charismatic spinner, Muthiah Muralitharan, has picked the most 5-wicket and 10-wicket hauls in Test cricket. He has 67 5-wicket hauls and 22 10-wicket hauls to his name.
300: More than 37 bowlers have taken 300+ wickets in Test cricket.
Among the active players, James Anderson tops the list, followed by the off-spin greats – Nathan Lyon and Ravichandran Ashwin.
10: India’s former leg spinner Anil Kumble became the second bowler to pick up 10 wickets in an innings of a test match. He achieved this feat against arch-rival Pakistan in 1999. Moreover, Kumble’s bowling figures of 10 for 74 are the second-best after Jim Laker’s 10 for 53.
