Top 10 Asian Bowlers in Test Cricket

In Test matches, it is believed that bowlers are bigger match-winners than batsmen, and rightly so. No matter how well a team bats, a victory is impossible until and unless the 20 wickets of the opposition are scalped.

And, in this article, we’ll be discussing about such bowlers; to be more precise, ‘the Asian bowlers’. Much like the batsmen, the Asian bowlers too perform better in their home conditions and find it tough to cope up against good batsmen outside Asia.

Here, we’ll try to figure out out the top Asian bowlers in Asian as well as Non-Asian conditions. 

In Asian Conditions

It is quite understandable that Asian bowlers tend to perform better in Asian conditions as it favours them. In the 10 bowlers listed below, the top 5 is dominated by spinners as Asian pitches are generally more supportive for spin bowling.

Here are the top 10 Asian bowlers with most Test wickets in Asian conditions:

SN	Bowler	Team	Matches	Innings	Wickets	Eco	Ave	BBI	BBM	5W	10W
1	Muttiah Muralitharan	Sri Lanka	97	171	612	2.44	21.69	9/51	13/115	52	17
2	Anil Kumble	India	82	144	419	2.64	27.00	10/74	14/149	27	7
3	Rangana Herath	Sri Lanka	68	127	354	2.80	26.03	9/127	14/184	30	8
4	Harbhajan Singh	India	71	130	300	2.79	32.01	8/84	15/217	19	5
5	Ravi Ashwin	India	50	97	297	2.81	22.58	7/59	13/140	25	7
6	Kapil Dev	India	86	150	279	2.90	29.01	9/83	11/146	14	2
7	Chaminda Vaas	Sri Lanka	74	132	236	2.65	27.88	7/71	14/191	6	1
8	Wasim Akram	Pakistan	59	102	216	2.57	22.53	6/48	10/106	11	1
9	Waqar Younis	Pakistan	47	85	215	3.23	20.64	7/76	13/135	14	4
10	Imran Khan	Pakistan	51	80	205	2.48	20.28	8/58	14/116	12	3

Highlights:

• Imran Khan’s bowling average (20.28) is the best bowling average among Asian bowlers with more than 200 wickets in Asia.
• Bishan Singh Bedi is the most economical bowler among Asian bowlers with over 100 wickets in Asia. He conceded runs at an economy rate of 1.99 while picking up 143 wickets in Asia.
• Anil Kumble is the only Asian bowler to pick all 10 wickets of the opposition in an innings. Here is another interesting record that Kumble holds.
• Former Indian captain, Kapil Dev is the most successful fast bowler in Asian conditions with 279 wickets to his name.
• Muralitharan (32563) has bowled the maximum number of deliveries in Asia, followed by Kumble (25711).
• After Ashwin, the active Asian bowler with most wickets in Asia is his spin-twin Ravindra Jadeja who has 170 wickets in 35 matches.
• Narendra Hirwani (India) holds the record for the best bowling figure (16/136) in a test match in Asia.

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In Non-Asian Conditions

The fast bowlers generally tend to do better than spinners outside Asia. The presence of 6 fast bowlers in the top 10 list given below is a testimony to that fact. Despite that, Anil Kumble, legendary Indian leg spinner, is above all in the list.

Here are the top 10 Asian bowlers with most Test wickets in non-Asian conditions:

SN	Bowler	Team	Matches	Innings	Wickets	Eco	Ave	BBI	BBM	5W	10W
1	Anil Kumble	India	50	92	200	2.79	35.20	8/141	12/279	8	1
2	Wasim Akram	Pakistan	45	79	198	2.60	24.80	7/119	11/110	14	4
3	Muttiah Muralitharan	Sri Lanka	35	57	183	2.55	25.93	9/65	16/220	15	5
4	Ishant Sharma	India	47	83	163	3.26	32.59	7/74	10/108	8	1
5	Waqar Younis	Pakistan	40	69	158	3.26	27.53	6/78	10/133	8	3
6	Imran Khan	Pakistan	37	62	157	2.60	26.11	7/40	12/165	11	3
7	Kapil Dev	India	45	77	155	2.59	30.78	8/106	8/109	9	0
8	Zaheer Khan	India	38	66	147	3.26	31.25	5/29	9/134	6	0
9	B. S. Bedi	India	34	58	123	2.30	31.71	6/127	10/194	6	1
10	Chaminda Vaas	Sri Lanka	37	62	119	2.74	32.94	6/87	10/90	6	1

Highlights:

• Wasim Akram’s bowling average (24.80) is the best bowling average among Asian bowlers with more than 100 wickets outside Asia.
• Bishan Singh Bedi is also the most economical bowler among Asian bowlers with over 100 wickets outside Asia. His economy rate in Test matches outside Asia is 2.30.
• Only 14 Asian bowlers have taken more than 100 wickets outside Asia, out of which 8 are Indians.
• Ishant Sharma leads the chart of Asian bowlers with most Test wickets outside Asia among active players with 163 wickets, followed by his compatriot Mohammad Shami (108 wickets).
• Rangana Herath, R Ashwin, and Harbhajan Singh are the three bowlers who featured in the top 10 list in Asian conditions but not in this list. Ashwin’s bowling average rises by 15 outside Asia whereas Herath’s by 11.

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Overall

Combining the performances in Asia and outside Asia, here are the top 10 Asian bowlers with most wickets in Test cricket:

SN	Bowler	Team	Matches	Innings	Wickets	Eco	Ave	BBI	BBM	5W	10W
1	Muttiah Muralitharan	Sri Lanka	133	230	800	2.47	22.72	9/51	16/220	67	22
2	Anil Kumble	India	132	236	619	2.69	29.65	10/74	14/149	35	8
3	Kapil Dev	India	131	227	434	2.78	29.64	9/83	11/146	23	2
4	Rangana Herath	Sri Lanka	93	170	433	2.80	28.07	9/127	14/184	34	9
5	Harbhajan Singh	India	103	190	417	2.84	32.46	8/84	15/217	25	5
6	Wasim Akram	Pakistan	104	181	414	2.59	23.62	7/119	11/110	25	5
7	Waqar Younis	Pakistan	87	154	373	3.25	23.56	7/76	13/135	22	5
8	Ravi Ashwin	India	71	132	365	2.84	25.43	7/59	13/140	27	7
9	Imran Khan	Pakistan	88	142	362	2.54	22.81	8/58	14/116	23	6
10	Chaminda Vaas	Sri Lanka	111	194	355	2.68	29.58	7/71	14/191	12	2

Highlights:

• 800 wickets by Muttiah Muralitharan is the most by anyone in test cricket history. He has also bowled the most number of deliveries in test cricket (44039).
• A total of 15 bowlers have claimed more than 400 wickets in test cricket. Out of those, only 5 are Asian bowlers.
• No any bowler has taken more five wicket(67) hauls and ten wicket (22) hauls than Muralitharan.

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Active Players Near The List

While R Ashwin is already present in the list, there are a few more active players who could break into it very soon:

1. Ishant Sharma (India): 97 Matches, 297 Wickets, 32.39 Average
2. Ravindra Jadeja (India): 49 Matches, 213 Wickets, 24.62 Average
3. Yasir Shah (Pakistan): 39 Matches, 213 Wickets, 30.52 Average
4. Mohammad Shami (India): 49 Matches, 180 Wickets, 27.36 Average
5. Suranga Lakmal (Sri Lanka): 61 Matches, 151 Wickets, 37.42 Average

Wrap Up

Muttiah Muralitharan, with 800 wickets, is comparable to none when it comes to wickets in Test cricket. Anil Kumble’s numbers in the Test matches are also quite phenomenal. Already ranked 8th on the list, R Ashwin is certain to climb up the ladder rapidly if he features regularly for the Indian side for some more years.

Stats Updated Till 29th April 2020

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