In limited-overs cricket, dot balls are hailed as gold dust for the simple reason that they create frustration in the batter’s mind, ultimately leading to a dismissal. But the career graph of a bowler is always judged upon the number of wickets taken and not what circumstances have led him/her to take a chunk of wickets.
Yes, we are talking about the impact of a cluster of dot balls bowled by a bowler in a game. The pressure surrounding the dots can lead to either him or the other bowlers taking wickets.
So here in this piece, we will talk about the top 10 bowlers with the most number of dot deliveries in ODI cricket.
Most Dot Balls Bowled in ODIs
| Player | Innings | Dot Balls Bowled |
|---|---|---|
| Shahid Afridi (PAK) | 274 | 7022 |
| Brett Lee (AUS) | 212 | 6865 |
| Daniel Vettori (NZ) | 229 | 6635 |
| Shakib Al Hasan (BAN) | 233 | 6616 |
| Shaun Pollock (SA) | 183 | 6518 |
| Harbhajan Singh (IND) | 209 | 6428 |
| Muthiah Muralidaran (SL) | 195 | 6347 |
| Lasith Malinga (SL) | 219 | 6093 |
| Mashrafe Mortaza (BAN) | 209 | 6021 |
| James Anderson (ENG) | 191 | 5855 |
(Note: The stats are based on matches where ball-by-ball data is available.)
Key Insights
Shahid Afridi has bowled the most number of dot balls in ODI cricket. 7022 were dot balls out of the 13634 balls he delivered. Afridi took 325 wickets in this period.
