Which bowler has the most wickets in cricket history in all formats?

Bowling in cricket is the most difficult job. You need to exert yourself fully, bowl hundreds of overs and get wickets and win matches for your team. A bowler is the heart and soul of the team. Where a batter has to score runs and set the tone of any game, it is the bowler who runs the game. Be it picking up those wickets and breaking up the partnership in test matches, or controlling the run rate in one day, or delivering those crucial powerplay and death overs in the twenty20s, a bowler has to do everything. And some come out better than others, delivering unprecedented results for the team. Let’s look at the highest wicket taker in all formats of the game. 

Most Wickets in Test Cricket History:

Credit: ESPN Cricinfo

Test cricket is the oldest and one of the most loved formats of the game. And without bowlers, there's no thrill in a test match. The fierce bowling, the swing, and the spin all make the format very exciting. Also, you need to pick up 20 scalps in two innings to win a match which puts a lot of responsibility on the bowlers. To a large extent, the winning and losing of the game depend on how many wickets the bowler is able to take. Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan are two of the leading test wicket takers. Let's look at a list of top 10 players with the most test wickets. 

Most Wickets in ODI Cricket History:

Credit: ESPN Cricinfo

ODI Cricket format is a faster paced match, and dismissing a batsmen is much more difficult in a 50 over match. But, you still get 10 overs per bowler to do enough damage to the batting side. Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka is the highest wicket taker in ODIs. Pakistani fast bowler Wasim Akram was the first bowler to reach 300 one-day dismissals. Here’s a list of the top 10 bowlers with the most international wickets in the ODI formats:

Most Wickets in T20 Internationals:

Credit: ESPN Cricinfo

T20 is a batsman’s game and a bowler’s nightmare. Batsmen hit sixes and smack bowlers all around the ground. It is a daunting task for bowlers to dismiss batsmen in the shortest format of the game. Usually, the pitch plays an important role if you want to pick up scalpsin the t20s. If the pitch offers a good amount of turn, or even without it if you’re a talented bowler, then you can dominate batsmen depending on how good the batsmen are. You can see it with Rashid Khan, a young player, but has done wonders with the leather ball in this short format and is one of the highest wicket takers in t20s. Let’s look at the players with the most T20 wickets.

Highest Wicket Taker in all formats in International Cricket:

The bowler with the most wickets in all three international cricket formats (combined)—Tests, ODIs, and T20Is—is Muttiah Muralitharan.

Credit: Reuters

Shane Warne, the Australian legend comes second with James Anderson, the greatest fast bowler third on the list. 

Though Muralitharan is at the top, Warne was the first ever bowler to get to 700 wickets in test, and even continued to hold the spot until 2007. Jimmy Anderson with the most scalps is the greatest pacer ever. 

Muralitharan dominates the rankings for both the ODI and Test formats , while Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh earns the top spot in the T20 list. The first male cricketer to record 100 wickets in the shortest format is Malinga of Sri Lanka.
Let’s look at a list of players with the most wickets in international cricket.

Most Wickets in IPL History:

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The Indian Premier League is one of the biggest T20 leagues in the world and it had to be mentioned. In the league where players like Chris Gayle dominate bowlers with his six hitting and Virat Kohli scoring 4 centuries in a single edition, players like Dwayne Bravo, Yuzvendra Chahal and Rashid Khan, the highest wicket takers in the IPL, have shown that with skills and clever bowling, you can always outsmart the batsman. Here’s a list of the top 10 players with the most IPL wickets. 

Most Wickets in Women’s Cricket:

Credit: ICC Cricket

Women’s cricket matches have grown in competitiveness since the 2000s. Players like Jhulan Goswami, Mithali Raj, Ellyse Perry and many more have defined and changed the sport and made it an exciting version to watch. Let’s look at the players with the most wickets in women’s T20, ODI and Test Cricket history. 

Conclusion:

As the game moves ahead and we will see some even better bowlers coming up. There is Shaheen Afridi in Pakistan, Arshdeep Singh in India and many other bowler who have the mettle to hit the deck in all formats of the game and be a nightmare for batsmen. And as bowlers get fitter and fitter, and have an extended career, we can easily see someone who will break the record for the most wickets in cricket history in all formats.