Top 10 Spinners of All Time

Cricket has seen many fast bowlers controlling the game with their pace and swing they generate. It was in the mid 50’s that the spinners started to make some effect in the result of the game. Let us see some of the great spinners who made a difference to the game.

10. Saeed Ajmal:   

 

One of the present day cricketers of Pakistan joined the team in his late 30’s after working hard in bowling. He is now one of the bowlers who is not able to score. The bowler has picked 169 wickets from 33 tests and 182 from 110 One Day Internationals he played. He is presently out of the game for his action. But will soon join the team and take some wickets to help the team win. 

9. Suniel Naraine: 

 

The West Indies bowler who is the present day magician is one of the best spinners who is little tough to play. He made his debut in 2011, but in short time he has become one of the great spinners of cricket. His wrist spin and unpredictable turn has made the bowler one of the good spinners. He has picked 60 wickets of the 39 one day internationals he has played. Also have 15 wickets from 5 test matches. His performance in IPL has given him more exposure to the game.

8. Abdul Qadir: 

 

 

This Pakistan spinner was difficult to read as he was one of the best spinners of the 80’s and 90’s. He had some magical deliveries that made the batsmen confused and losing their wicket. He has taken 236 wickets from 67 test matches and 132 from 104 One Day Internationals. He was one of the dangerous leg spinners those days. He became the selector of the Pakistan Cricket Board after commentary for years. HE was very much famous for flippers and googly.

7. Bishan Singh Bedi: 

 

The Indian left arm spinner was one of the best Indian spinners of 1970’s. The left arm orthodox bowler did not play much of One Day games in his carrier as One Day was just a starting stage in the 70’s. He has taken 266 wickets from 67 tests. He also has one 50 under his belt. He also captained the Indian team for more than 20 test matches on an exact 22 games.

6. Saqlain Mustaq:  

 

One more Pakistani in the list as the Asian team has produced more spinners than the other teams. This may be because of the pitch conditions in Asia. Saqlain Mustaq has played 49 test matches and taken 208 wickets with an average of 29.83. He has appeared in 169 One Day Internationals for the Pakistan team and has picked 288 wickets with an average of 21.78. He has scored one century and 2 fifties in test match cricket.

5. Jim Laker: 

This player is one of the best spinners of 1950’s. He played for England and also helped them to win some test match against the arch rivals Australia. HE was the first person to get all 10 wickets in an innings. He picked 9 wickets in the first innings and 10 in the second innings against the Australian team in the year 1956. This legendary bowler has picked 193 test wickets out of the 46 test he played. The best figure in test match is 10/53 which took many years to be broken.  The best figure in test match was also from this great spinner who took 19 wickets giving away 90 runs in the same world record match.

4. E Prasanna: 

This legendary bowler was from Karnataka and performed well as a spinner in the national level against some great cricketing teams of the world. Great players from the 1960 and 1970 era called him as the magician of spin who just took many wickets having different type of variation in his bowling. He was very tough to be handled by the great batmen of that decade. He has taken 189 wickets of the 49 test matches he played.  He did not play any One Day internationals.

3. Anil Kumble: 

He played for Indian from 1990 and ended his journey of cricket as an Indian spinner till 2008. He is one of the best leg spinners of the world who was also the second bowler to take 10 wickets in an innings of test match after Jim Laker. This achievement was against the Pakistan team.  He has picked 619 wickets from 132 test matches and 337 ODI wickets from 271 matches.

2. Shane Warne: 

This Australia leg spin was one of the best bowlers who took wickets for the team in crucial stages. He was not that easy to pick as he could spin the ball delivered to leg stump and hit the off stump. He has taken 708 wickets from 145 test matches he played and 293 wickets from 194 One Day matches. He was also a better batsman than other great spinners.   He has picked the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar for many times and also gone for many runs against him.

1. M Muralidharan: 

The off spinner from Srilanka conquered the world through his dusra that gained him many wickets. He had many variations in the spin department and also one of the entertainers of the game. There were many injuries, but did not stop from making some world records. After retirement he is still playing English county and IPL cricket. He was the first spinner to break fast bowlers record of 500 set by Wasim Akram in One Day matches. The legendary off spinner has picket 534 wickets from 350 One Days and 800 from 133 test matches he played.