The second oldest format of game white-ball cricket (ODI Cricket) remains the toughest format after test cricket to define the greatness of bowlers who have played this format thought-out of long history. Although this white-ball cricket format started 5 decades ago and over the years it has been dominated by the many greats of the game like bowlers (either fast bowler or great spin-bowler).
What makes this rivalry of cricket more interesting is definitely the bowler from the batsman who also doesn't prefer to score runs against the average bowler to be remembered as the great batsman. ODI cricket is a very different format from the other forms of cricket, 50 overs game and a maximum of 10 overs (60 balls) can bowler be allowed to bowl or even if there is interruptions in the match due to rain (the bowler is restricted to bowl the less overs as per the new guidelines).
In the batting-friendly era, it is tough to survive as a bowler either on the home conditions or the away conditions. But if a batsman has any fear during the match it can only be created by any kind of bowler to send him back to the pavilion either of 0 or the batsman towards any big milestone. It is only the bowler who can stop the innings of the batsman at the point of time to turn the game away. So the role of the bowler is equally important as compared to the batsman in either high-scoring or low-scoring game in the tournament like World Cup Semi-final 1999 or Epic Test Victory At Eden Garden 2001, by Team India against Australia.
A crucial five-wickets spell to vital 3-4 wickets by the bowler can bring too many changes in the match at any point of time. From the great fast bowler to legendary spinner everyone has taken wickets with their tight line and lengths, to help his side in the crucial knockout games. Although cricket has been very much a batsman favours game but there are the bowlers who with their exceptional skills, often turned as the difficult bowler to play against in his era. From the one-sided contest by the batsman to bowlers who have destroyed the batting line-ups of a great team, bowlers have earned equal respect like batsmen over the years in the white-ball cricket (ODI Cricket).
Having said, let us take a look at the top ten bowlers with most wickets in ODI Cricket History.
Player | Matches | Innings | Wickets | Average | Strike Rate | Economy |
Muttiah Muralitharan | 350 | 341 | 534 | 23.08 | 35.2 | 3.93 |
Wasim Akram | 356 | 351 | 502 | 23.52 | 36.2 | 3.89 |
Waqar Younis | 262 | 258 | 416 | 23.84 | 30.5 | 4.68 |
Chaminda Vass | 322 | 320 | 400 | 27.53 | 39.4 | 4.18 |
Shahid Afridi | 398 | 372 | 395 | 34.51 | 44.7 | 4.62 |
Shaun Pollock | 303 | 297 | 393 | 24.50 | 39.9 | 3.67 |
Glenn McGrath | 250 | 248 | 381 | 22.02 | 34.0 | 3.88 |
Brett Lee | 221 | 217 | 380 | 23.36 | 29.4 | 4.76 |
Lasith Malinga | 226 | 220 | 338 | 28.87 | 32.3 | 5.35 |
Anil Kumble | 271 | 265 | 337 | 30.89 | 43.0 | 4.30 |
Also Read | Top 8 Bowlers With Most Wickets In Test Cricket
