Most wickets in ODI cricket: the top 20, and why no active bowler is on it

Muthiah Muralitharan has the most wickets in ODI cricket, 534 of them in 350 matches between 1993 and 2011, and Wasim Akram is the only other bowler ever to reach 500. That much every list agrees on. What a plain top-10 does not tell you is stranger than the order itself: the best bowler on this list by every rate that matters is nowhere near the top of it, and the leading active wicket-taker sits 27th, 287 behind.

Most wickets in ODI cricket: the top 20

Career figures, all matches including those for Asia XI and the ICC World XI, correct to 12 August 2026.

#	Bowler	Country	Span	Mat	Wkts	Ave	Econ	SR	Best
1	Muthiah Muralitharan	Sri Lanka	1993-2011	350	534	23.08	3.93	35.22	7/30
2	Wasim Akram	Pakistan	1984-2003	356	502	23.52	3.89	36.22	5/15
3	Waqar Younis	Pakistan	1989-2003	262	416	23.84	4.68	30.52	7/36
4	Chaminda Vaas	Sri Lanka	1994-2008	322	400	27.53	4.18	39.43	8/19
5	Shahid Afridi	Pakistan	1996-2015	398	395	34.51	4.62	44.73	7/12
6	Shaun Pollock	South Africa	1996-2008	303	393	24.50	3.67	39.97	6/35
7	Glenn McGrath	Australia	1993-2007	250	381	22.02	3.88	34.04	7/15
8	Brett Lee	Australia	2000-2012	221	380	23.36	4.76	29.43	5/22
9	Lasith Malinga	Sri Lanka	2004-2019	226	338	28.87	5.35	32.35	6/38
10	Anil Kumble	India	1990-2007	271	337	30.89	4.30	43.01	6/12
11	Sanath Jayasuriya	Sri Lanka	1989-2011	445	323	36.75	4.78	46.04	6/29
12	Shakib Al Hasan	Bangladesh	2006-2023	247	317	29.52	4.46	39.66	5/29
13	Javagal Srinath	India	1991-2003	229	315	28.08	4.44	37.88	5/23
14	Daniel Vettori	New Zealand	1997-2015	295	305	31.71	4.12	46.09	5/7
15	Shane Warne	Australia	1993-2005	194	293	25.73	4.25	36.32	5/33
16	Saqlain Mushtaq	Pakistan	1995-2003	169	288	21.78	4.29	30.45	5/20
17	Ajit Agarkar	India	1998-2007	191	288	27.85	5.07	32.93	6/42
18	Zaheer Khan	India	2000-2012	200	282	29.43	4.93	35.80	5/42
19	Jacques Kallis	South Africa	1996-2014	328	273	31.79	4.84	39.37	5/30
20	Allan Donald	South Africa	1991-2003	164	272	21.78	4.15	31.47	6/23

Only four bowlers have ever reached 400

Muralitharan, Akram, Waqar Younis and Chaminda Vaas. That is the whole list, and Vaas finished on exactly 400. The four of them are separated by 134 wickets, which sounds close until you notice that the gap between Vaas in fourth and Shahid Afridi in fifth is five.

Vaas also owns the single best return in the format’s history. His 8 for 19 against Zimbabwe at the Sinhalese Sports Club in December 2001 is the only eight-wicket haul anyone has managed in an ODI, and it is tidier than the figures suggest: he took the first eight wickets to fall, and Muralitharan collected the last two as Zimbabwe were bowled out for 38. Waqar’s 13 five-wicket hauls are the ODI record, three clear of Muralitharan, despite Waqar playing 88 fewer matches. Mitchell Starc, on nine, is the closest anyone still playing has come.

Nobody in the top 26 has played an ODI since 2023

Run down the span column and the most recent date anywhere in the top 26 is Shakib Al Hasan’s, in 2023. Kapil Dev, in 26th on 253, retired in 1994. The list has been effectively sealed for years.

The leading active wicket-taker is Mitchell Starc, 27th on 247, level on wickets with Shoaib Akhtar but ahead on Cricinfo’s ordering because he has taken them in 33 fewer matches. Starc gave up T20 internationals in September 2025 specifically to keep himself available for Test cricket and the 2027 ODI World Cup, so he is not close to done. He is also 287 wickets short.

The seven bowlers who beat the best man in the top 26

This is where a records table stops being a ranking and starts being an accident of scheduling. Take the best bowler in the top 26 on strike rate, which is Brett Lee at a wicket every 29.43 balls. Seven bowlers in the full qualifying list are quicker. Now take the best in the top 26 on wickets per match, which is also Brett Lee, at 1.719. Seven bowlers beat him there too.

It is the same seven names both times.

Bowler	Rank	Wkts	Mat	Wkts/match	SR
Sandeep Lamichhane	83	154	77	2.000	27.28
Mohammed Shami	41	206	108	1.907	25.85
Mitchell Starc	27	247	130	1.900	26.87
Trent Boult	39	211	114	1.851	29.28
Rashid Khan	36	226	123	1.837	27.31
Matt Henry	69	172	95	1.811	28.75
Ajantha Mendis	85	152	87	1.747	27.32
Brett Lee (best of the top 26)	8	380	221	1.719	29.43

Five of those seven have played an ODI since 2024, Boult and Mendis being the exceptions. Rashid Khan’s career average of 19.43 is the lowest of any bowler with 200 or more ODI wickets, better than Muralitharan’s 23.08 and McGrath’s 22.02, and he sits 36th. The check takes ten seconds: divide the wickets column by the matches column and the order of the table falls apart.

The arithmetic that keeps the record where it is

Starc takes 1.90 wickets per ODI. To reach 534 he needs 287 more, which at his own rate is 151 further matches. He has played 130 in sixteen years. Rashid Khan needs 308 more at 1.837 a game, or 168 matches, having played 123 since 2015. Both men would have to more than double a career that is already long, and do it while bowling as well as they ever have.

The obstacle is not quality, it is fixtures. Sanath Jayasuriya played 445 ODIs, Afridi 398, Akram 356 and Muralitharan 350. Of the bowlers on this list who have played an ODI since 2024, none has more than Ravindra Jadeja’s 210 matches. India played three ODIs in the whole of 2024, all of them against Sri Lanka in Colombo across six days in August, the first tied and the next two lost. A bowler cannot take wickets in matches that are not scheduled, and the calendar has moved a long way toward Test cricket and franchise Twenty20.

The same squeeze shows up in our list of the most wickets in international cricket, where the top of the table is similarly closed, and among the leading fast bowlers across formats.

Why two versions of this list disagree

Compare a few sites and the numbers wobble by two or three. That is not sloppiness, it is a real distinction that almost nobody explains.

Several of these careers include matches for composite sides, the Asia XI and the ICC World XI, which carry full ODI status but were not played for a country. Kumble is the clearest case: his 337 breaks down as 334 for India and three for the Asia XI, so a page listing him at 334 is not wrong, it is answering a slightly different question. Muralitharan, Vaas, Afridi, Pollock, Jayasuriya, Kallis and Vettori all played in the same fixtures, which is why their entries on Cricinfo read Asia, Afr or ICC alongside the country.

The safe habit is to check whether a list says “for India” or “in ODIs” before assuming one of them has a typo.

The other reason two lists can look different is that the man at the top has his name spelled several ways. Cricinfo files him as M Muralidaran, most Indian and British coverage writes Muttiah Muralitharan, and Muralidharan turns up too. All three are the same bowler and the same 534 wickets. A records page that appears to be missing him is usually filing him under a spelling you did not search for.

India’s leading ODI wicket-takers

Kumble heads the Indian list on 337, or 334 for India, from 271 matches. Javagal Srinath follows on 315, then Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan, who are separated by six wickets and sit 17th and 18th overall. Four Indians in the top 20 is a strong showing for a country whose great ODI bowlers were mostly not express quick.

Among bowlers still playing, Ravindra Jadeja on 232 and Mohammed Shami on 206 are the closest Indians to the top group, with Kuldeep Yadav on 194. The fuller breakdowns sit in our lists of the most wickets for India in ODIs and the spinners with the most ODI wickets, and for the other side of the ledger there is the record for the highest team totals in ODI cricket.

Most wickets in ODI cricket: quick answers

Who has taken the most wickets in ODI cricket? Muttiah Muralitharan, with 534 in 350 matches between 1993 and 2011.

Who is the highest wicket-taker in ODIs among bowlers still playing? Mitchell Starc, on 247, which puts him 27th on the all-time list.

Has anyone else reached 500 ODI wickets? Only Wasim Akram, on 502. He was also the first to get there, dismissing the Netherlands opener Nick Statham at the 2003 World Cup.

Who has the most ODI wickets for India? Anil Kumble, on 337 in all ODIs or 334 counting only those for India, ahead of Javagal Srinath on 315.

What are the best bowling figures in an ODI? Chaminda Vaas taking 8 for 19 against Zimbabwe in December 2001, still the only eight-wicket haul in the format.

How many wickets does it take to make the top 20? 272, which is where Allan Donald sits.

Read more of our cricket record breakdowns

Featured photo: AFP / William West