Top 10 Asian Bowlers in Test Cricket

In Test matches, it is believed that bowlers are bigger match-winners than batsmen, and rightly so. No matter how well a team bats, a victory is impossible until and unless the 20 wickets of the opposition are scalped.

And, in this article, we’ll be discussing about such bowlers; to be more precise, ‘the Asian bowlers’. Much like the batsmen, the Asian bowlers too perform better in their home conditions and find it tough to cope up against good batsmen outside Asia.

Here, we’ll try to figure out out the top Asian bowlers in Asian as well as Non-Asian conditions. 

In Asian Conditions

It is quite understandable that Asian bowlers tend to perform better in Asian conditions as it favours them. In the 10 bowlers listed below, the top 5 is dominated by spinners as Asian pitches are generally more ive for spin bowling.

Here are the top 10 Asian bowlers with most Test wickets in Asian conditions:

SN	Bowler	Team	Matches	Innings	Wickets	Eco	Ave	BBI	BBM	5W	10W
1	Muttiah Muralitharan	Sri Lanka	97	171	612	2.44	21.69	9/51	13/115	52	17
2	Anil Kumble	India	82	144	419	2.64	27.00	10/74	14/149	27	7
3	Rangana Herath	Sri Lanka	68	127	354	2.80	26.03	9/127	14/184	30	8
4	Harbhajan Singh	India	71	130	300	2.79	32.01	8/84	15/217	19	5
5	Ravi Ashwin	India	50	97	297	2.81	22.58	7/59	13/140	25	7
6	Kapil Dev	India	86	150	279	2.90	29.01	9/83	11/146	14	2
7	Chaminda Vaas	Sri Lanka	74	132	236	2.65	27.88	7/71	14/191	6	1
8	Wasim Akram	Pakistan	59	102	216	2.57	22.53	6/48	10/106	11	1
9	Waqar Younis	Pakistan	47	85	215	3.23	20.64	7/76	13/135	14	4
10	Imran Khan	Pakistan	51	80	205	2.48	20.28	8/58	14/116	12	3

Highlights:

• Imran Khan’s bowling average (20.28) is the best bowling average among Asian bowlers with more than 200 wickets in Asia.
• Bishan Singh Bedi is the most economical bowler among Asian bowlers with over 100 wickets in Asia. He conceded runs at an economy rate of 1.99 while picking up 143 wickets in Asia.
• Anil Kumble is the only Asian bowler to pick all 10 wickets of the opposition in an innings. Here is another interesting record that Kumble holds.
• Former Indian captain, Kapil Dev is the most successful fast bowler in Asian conditions with 279 wickets to his name.
• Muralitharan (32563) has bowled the maximum number of deliveries in Asia, followed by Kumble (25711).
• After Ashwin, the active Asian bowler with most wickets in Asia is his spin-twin Ravindra Jadeja who has 170 wickets in 35 matches.
• Narendra Hirwani (India) holds the record for the best bowling figure (16/136) in a test match in Asia.

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In Non-Asian Conditions

The fast bowlers generally tend to do better than spinners outside Asia. The presence of 6 fast bowlers in the top 10 list given below is a testimony to that fact. Despite that, Anil Kumble, legendary Indian leg spinner, is above all in the list.

Here are the top 10 Asian bowlers with most Test wickets in non-Asian conditions:

SN	Bowler	Team	Matches	Innings	Wickets	Eco	Ave	BBI	BBM	5W	10W
1	Anil Kumble	India	50	92	200	2.79	35.20	8/141	12/279	8	1
2	Wasim Akram	Pakistan	45	79	198	2.60	24.80	7/119	11/110	14	4
3	Muttiah Muralitharan	Sri Lanka	35	57	183	2.55	25.93	9/65	16/220	15	5
4	Ishant Sharma	India	47	83	163	3.26	32.59	7/74	10/108	8	1
5	Waqar Younis	Pakistan	40	69	158	3.26	27.53	6/78	10/133	8	3
6	Imran Khan	Pakistan	37	62	157	2.60	26.11	7/40	12/165	11	3
7	Kapil Dev	India	45	77	155	2.59	30.78	8/106	8/109	9	0
8	Zaheer Khan	India	38	66	147	3.26	31.25	5/29	9/134	6	0
9	B. S. Bedi	India	34	58	123	2.30	31.71	6/127	10/194	6	1
10	Chaminda Vaas	Sri Lanka	37	62	119	2.74	32.94	6/87	10/90	6	1

Highlights:

• Wasim Akram’s bowling average (24.80) is the best bowling average among Asian bowlers with more than 100 wickets outside Asia.
• Bishan Singh Bedi is also the most economical bowler among Asian bowlers with over 100 wickets outside Asia. His economy rate in Test matches outside Asia is 2.30.
• Only 14 Asian bowlers have taken more than 100 wickets outside Asia, out of which 8 are Indians.
• Ishant Sharma leads the chart of Asian bowlers with most Test wickets outside Asia among active players with 163 wickets, followed by his compatriot Mohammad Shami (108 wickets).
• Rangana Herath, R Ashwin, and Harbhajan Singh are the three bowlers who featured in the top 10 list in Asian conditions but not in this list. Ashwin’s bowling average rises by 15 outside Asia whereas Herath’s by 11.

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Overall