Top 10 Players To Take Fastest 200 Wickets In Test Cricket
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Cricket has given birth to innumerable legends with records spanning a wide array of batting and bowling milestones. In this article, we will read about the fastest 200 wickets in Test cricket. Unlike short game formats, Test bowling is highly tactical and competitive where bowlers like Yasir Shah, Clarrie Grimmett, and Ravichandran Ashwin are stalwarts. They are known to bring on a deadly attack against their opponent batsmen with their bowling pace and spins. Read on to know more about these bowlers who were the fastest to 200 wickets in Tests.
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Top 10 Players To Take Fastest 200 Wickets In Test Cricket
1. Yasir Shah
Yasir Shah has been performing in first-class cricket for about 20 years. He made his List A and first-class debuts in 2001-2002 but it took him over ten years to venture into international cricket. The leg-spinner, born in Swabi, Pakistan, played his first Test match in 2014. Since then, he has been Pakistan's top leg-spinner in Test cricket. He had a strong start to his Test cricket career with 27 wickets from just five matches. Since then, he has never looked back reaching the 100 Test wickets milestone from 17 matches in joint second place and 200 Test wickets in 33 matches to grab the number one spot on the list of fastest 200 wickets in Test cricket.
2. Clarrie Grimmett
The first cricketer to ever reach 200 wickets in cricketing history is Clarrie Grimmett. He achieved this feat in 36 games to take the second spot on the list of quickest 200 Test wickets. Clarie Grimmett was from New Zealand but decided to emigrate to and represent Australia, the world's leading sports nation at the time, in 1914. At the beginning of his career, he was told by his schoolmaster to focus on his spin bowling despite knowing that Grimmett was interested in pace bowling. His teacher's advice saw him become the most refined spinner in cricketing history. He was also the first to develop the flipper delivery, which is used widely in modern cricket. The renowned spinner played for over ten years and bagged 216 wickets in 37 games.
3. Ravichandran Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin ranks third on this list of fastest 200 wickets in Test cricket. He has been India's top spinner in Test cricket and a match-winner spinner in the same format since his debut. The Tamil Nadu spinner has taken 365 wickets in 71 Test matches - 27 five-wicket hauls and seven ten-wicket hauls in his career so far. Ashwin became the third-fastest player (at that time, he was the second-fastest) to take 200 wickets in 2016 after playing crucial 37 matches.
4. Waqar Younis
Waqar Younis, a former fast bowler for Pakistan, is next on the list of the fastest 200 wickets in Tests. Waqar Younis was among the main reasons Pakistan achieved soaring success in the 1990s. He pioneered the reverse swing concept and was one of those fast bowlers who perform beyond expectations. Along with Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis became one of the most feared bowling combinations in cricketing history. During the 38th Test of his career, he recorded his 200th Test wicket. At the age of 22, he became the third-youngest skipper in history and the youngest Pakistani skipper in Test cricket.
5. Dennis Lillee
Amongst the most polished pace bowlers to ever play cricket, Dennis Lillee is an indomitable presence. He could enter the game and bowl continuously to turn around the results of the game single-handedly. He led Australia's pace attack for almost 12 years and was among the team's top wicket-takers. After 70 Test matches, Lillee finished his career with 355 wickets with 23 five-wicket hauls. In 1980, the West Australian fast bowler was the second-quickest to reach 200 Test wickets in just 38 Test matches. Currently, he holds the fifth spot on the list of fastest to take 200 Test wickets in Test, after being outperformed by Ashwin and Yasir Shah.
6. Dale Steyn
One of the greatest fast bowlers to play in the modern era is unquestionably Dale Steyn. This South African pace bowling legend is capable of destroying any batting order in the world on any pitch. According to statistics, he is the greatest South African fast bowler to have ever played cricket. For more than a decade, he served as the centerpiece of the South African bowling attack. He has bagged 439 wickets with a strike rate of 42.3. In 2010, Steyn became the sixth-fastest player to reach the 200-wicket mark in Test cricket, accomplishing the feat in 39 matches.
7. Ian Botham
Along with Richard Hadlee, Kapil Dev, and Imran Khan, Ian Botham has been one of the finest all-around players of his generation. He was a game-changer who could use both bat and ball to alter the game outcome. In his 102-Test-match career, the Durham all-rounder amassed 5200 runs and bagged 383 wickets. Before Stuart Broad and James Anderson broke the record, those 383 wickets held the record for the highest Test wickets by an English cricketer. In his career, Botham gathered 27 five-wicket hauls thanks to his deadly bowling legacy. He scaled the 200-wicket milestone in 41 Test matches, in 1981.
8. Stuart MacGill
Stuart MacGill played for Australia primarily when Shane Warne was unavailable; and for the majority of his career, he was viewed as Warne's backup man. Despite a ten-year playing career, the leg-spinner from Perth only participated in 44 Test matches, but even in those, he made a tremendous impact. After Warne retired in 2007, MacGill became the third quickest Australian bowler to record 200 wickets in the long format of the game. He needed 41 innings to reach the milestone of 200 wickets. With 208 Test wickets to his name, MacGill retired from Test cricket in 2008.
9. Malcolm Marshall
One of the greatest fast bowlers to ever represent the West Indies is Malcolm Marshall. He was a prolific wicket-taker and was crucial to the West Indies' success between the later part of the 1970s and early 1980s. Born in Barbados, he played the long format of the game for over 13 years, debuting in 1978. In 81 Test matches, he bagged 376 wickets, including 22 five-wicket hauls (fifers). He was the quickest West Indian bowler to reach 200 wickets, and it took him just 42 Test matches to accomplish it.
10. Shane Warne
The list of quickest 200 wicket-takers in Test cricket is incomplete without the legendary Shane Warne. One of the best leg-spinners in history, Warne played 42 Test games to surpass the 200-wicket barrier. Hailing from Victoria, Australia, Warne had a sluggish start in his Test career, but as his bowling became better with the experience he was one of the most successful wicket-takers in Test cricket with astounding 708 wickets.
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