Anil Kumble has taken the most wickets for India in international cricket: 953 in 401 matches across Tests and ODIs, at an average of 30.06. That is 188 clear of second place, and nobody currently playing is near either mark.

The order beneath him has changed a good deal since Kumble retired in 2008, and it is still changing — Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah have both climbed the list in the last two years.

Most wickets for India across formats

Rank Player Span Test ODI T20I Total
1 Anil Kumble 1990-2008 619 334 – 953
2 Ravichandran Ashwin 2010-2024 537 156 72 765
3 Harbhajan Singh 1998-2016 417 265 25 707
4 Kapil Dev 1978-1994 434 253 – 687
5 Ravindra Jadeja 2009-2026 356 232 54 642
6 Zaheer Khan 2000-2014 311 269 17 597
7 Javagal Srinath 1991-2003 236 315 – 551
8 Jasprit Bumrah 2016-2026 234 151 121 506
9 Mohammed Shami 2013-2025 229 206 27 462
10 Ishant Sharma 2007-2021 311 115 8 434
11 Kuldeep Yadav 2017-2026 80 194 95 369

Figures cover Tests, ODIs and men’s T20Is. A dash means the player’s career finished before India played the format.

Anil Kumble — 953 wickets

Kumble made his India debut against England in 1990 and finished with 619 Test wickets in 132 matches at 29.65, including 35 five-wicket hauls and eight ten-wicket match hauls. His 10 for 74 against Pakistan at the Feroz Shah Kotla in February 1999 is one of only three ten-wicket innings returns in Test history, alongside Jim Laker’s 10 for 53 in 1956 and Ajaz Patel’s 10 for 119 in 2021.

He also played 269 ODIs between 1990 and 2007, taking 334 wickets at 30.83. India’s T20I era began after he had stopped playing the white-ball game, so his entire tally comes from two formats — which is what makes the gap to second place as large as it is.

Ravichandran Ashwin — 765 wickets

Ashwin is second with 765 wickets in 287 matches, and he did it in fewer than three-quarters of Kumble’s appearances. He last played for India in 2024, finishing as the country’s second-highest Test wicket-taker with 537 in 106 matches at an average of 24.00 — a better average than any India bowler with 400 or more Test wickets. He added 156 in ODIs and 72 in T20Is.

His 37 Test five-wicket hauls are more than Kumble’s 35, from 26 fewer matches.

Harbhajan Singh — 707 wickets

Harbhajan took 707 wickets in 365 matches at 32.59. He made his Test debut against Australia in 1998 and finished with 417 wickets in 103 Tests at 32.46. He played 234 ODIs for 265 wickets at 33.47 and added 25 in T20Is.

Kapil Dev — 687 wickets

India’s 1983 World Cup-winning captain took 687 wickets in 356 matches — 434 of them in Tests and 253 in ODIs. He is fourth on this list and third on India’s Test list, more than forty years after his debut.

Ravindra Jadeja — 642 wickets, and the leading active bowler

Jadeja is the highest-placed India bowler still playing, and he has moved up the list quickly: 356 Test wickets, 232 in ODIs and 54 in T20Is for a total of 642 in 375 matches. He passed Zaheer Khan’s 597 during this period and is now fifth, with Kapil Dev’s 687 the next mark ahead of him.

Jasprit Bumrah — 506 wickets in 238 matches

Bumrah is the fastest climber on the list. He reached 506 wickets in 238 matches — Test 234, ODI 151, T20I 121 — and his Test average of 19.79 is the best of any bowler in the history of the game with 200 or more Test wickets, ahead of Malcolm Marshall’s 20.94. He is also the only man in the top ten with more than 100 T20I wickets, which is a straightforward consequence of when he played rather than a comparison with anyone above him.

The rest of the top ten

Zaheer Khan (597), Javagal Srinath (551), Mohammed Shami (462) and Ishant Sharma (434) fill out the top ten, with Kuldeep Yadav next on 369 and still adding to it. Srinath is the only bowler in the top ten with more ODI wickets than Test wickets — 315 to 236.

For the wider record book, see our guides to the most wickets for India in Tests and the biggest numbers in ODI cricket.

Featured photo: LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI / AFP