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Muttiah Muralitharan (L) and Anil Kumble (R) (Source: AFP)
In the 148-year-long journey of Test cricket, a notion among the cricket experts has been revolving around the traditional format of the game that âitâs mostly a battersâ gameâ. A couple of arguments, like âbatting-friendly rulesâ and ârestriction on bowlersâ, are usually put forward to justify the aforementioned notion.
Nevertheless, there have been some notable bowlers in cricket history who established themselves as all-time greats amidst battersâ dominance. The list includes both spinners and pacers who left everyone awestruck and had the cricketing world applaud them and credit them for tough competition in the batter-dominated game.
That said, here weâll have a look at the top 10 bowlers with most Test wickets till January 2026.
Top 10 bowlers with most Test wickets till January 2026
Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) - 800 Test wickets (1992-2010)
It was a humid afternoon on September 2, 1992 when the second Test of the three-match series between Sri Lanka and Australia marked a Test debut of a player who would be ruling the world cricket in future with his spin magic.
Muttiah Muralitharan, the name that is still an epitome of spin bowling even after more than 14 years of his retirement.
Muralitharan ended his career as the leading wicket-taker of all time in the entire history of the Tests. He snared 800 wickets in 230 innings of his 133 Tests, including 67 five-wicket hauls and 22 â10-wicket hauls in a matchâ.
Muralitharanâs 800-wicket mark still seems to be higher than Mount Everest for the bowlers in Tests, as most of the greats, following him in the list, have already retired from the game, except for Australiaâs Nathan Lyon.
Shane Warne (Australia) - 708 Test wickets (1992-2007)
The former legendary Australia spinner, Shane Warne, was considered as one of the rare spin talents owing to the rise of his stature in the Aussie world full of pacers and pace dominance. Warne proved his mettle across all surfaces, whether on the sub-continent or in the SENA countries.
The Victoria-born spin great represented Australia in Tests for 15 years from 1992 to 2007. He bagged 708 wickets in 273 innings of the 145 matches he played. In these 708 wickets, Warne claimed 37 five-wicket hauls and 10 â10-wicket hauls in a gameâ. Warne is the second leading wicket-taker of all time in Tests in the list of top 10 batters with most wickets.
James Anderson (England) - 704 Test wickets (2003-2024)
James Anderson, the legend who played for England as a pacer for the record-breaking time of 21 years, amidst a debate on the short-spanned career of pace bowlers. The Lancashire stalwart established himself as the one of the all-time pace-bowling greats in the history of the game.
Anderson featured in 188 Tests, the most matches a player ever played for England in history. He claimed 704 wickets in 350 innings of these 188 Tests, picking 32 five-wicket hauls and three â10-wicket hauls in a matchâ.
He is the leading wicket-taker of all time among pacers in Tests, alongside being the third leading wicket-taker of all time in the longest format of the game. Notably, he is also the leading wicket-taker of all time for England in Tests.
Anil Kumble (India) - 619 Test wickets (1990-2008)
The former India legend, Anil Kumble, was one of the top three spin legends on the list of bowlers with the most wickets in Tests. Kumble made his Test debut for India in 1990 and played for almost two decades till 2008. The spin wizard ended his career as the then-third leading wicket-taker of all-time in Tests, before being surpassed by James Anderson.
Currently, Kumble is placed at the fourth spot in the list of top 10 bowlers with most Test wickets, with 619 wickets in 236 innings of his 132 Tests, including 35 five-wicket hauls and eight â10-wicket hauls in a matchâ. Besides that, he is the leading wicket-taker of all time for India in Tests.
Stuart Broad (England) - 604 Test wickets (2007-2023)
Letâs turn back time to September 2007, the first-ever World Cup in a different format; the then-young England pacer Stuart Broad was bowling the 19th over of the innings to Indiaâs Yuvraj Singh in a super-eight game of the T20 World Cup 2007.
What happened on the successive six balls left Broad shattered and clueless, as Yuvraj smashed him for six sixes in an over.
It was the time when Broad was still waiting for his Test debut, which happened three months later in December 2007. However, the Nottingham-born star came out of that setback. He gradually established himself as one of the all-time pace-bowling greats ever to play the game of cricket, with his continuous dedication and perseverance over the next 16 years till 2023.
Broad ended his career as the fifth leading wicket-taker of all time in Tests and second all-time leading wicket-taker for England in the traditional format of the game. He bagged 604 wickets in 309 innings of his 167 games in the 16-year-long, illustrious Test career.
Nathan Lyon (Australia) - 563 Test wickets (2011-Present)
The only active bowler, among the top 10 bowlers with most Test wickets, Nathan Lyon has brilliantly lived up to the standards set by the former legendary Aussie spinner Shane Warne. In his 14-year-long Test career, Lyon has established himself as one of the modern-day greats, alongside his fellow spinners like Indiaâs Ravichandran Ashwin.
The 38-year-old has scalped 567 wickets in 262 innings of his 141 Tests so far, with 24 five-wicket hauls and five â10-wicket hauls in a matchâ.
He is currently the second leading wicket-taker of all time for Australia in Tests, following the former legend Shane Warne. Besides that, he ranks sixth in the list of the top 10 bowlers with the most Test wickets.
Glenn McGrath (Australia) - 563 Test wickets (1993-2007)
Glenn McGrath, the pace-bowling legend of Australia, whose greatness grew in parallel alongside the spin legend, Shane Warne. McGrath made his Test debut against New Zealand in the Perth Test in 1993. Furthermore, he represented Australia at the highest level of the game for 14 years, until 2007.
McGrath ended his career as the leading wicket-taker among pacers for Australia in Tests. Besides that, he is the seventh leading wicket-taker of all time in Tests, with 563 wickets, in 243 innings of his 124-Test career, claiming 29 five-wicket hauls and three â10-wicket hauls in a matchâ.
Ravichandran Ashwin (India) - 537 Test wickets (2011-2024)
537 Test wickets in 200 innings of his 106 Tests, including 37 five-wicket hauls and eight â10-wicket hauls in a matchâ, these iconic numbers staunchly advocate for the fact that Ravichandran Ashwin rightly deserved a better end to his Test career.
But it didnât happen, and a legendary spin career ended abruptly in the middle of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 between India and Australia.
Ashwin is the second leading wicket-taker of all time for India in Tests, alongside being the eighth bowler with the most Test wickets.
Courtney Walsh (West Indies) - 519 Test wickets (1984-2001)
After his 17-year Test career ended in 2001, the former West Indies pace-bowling legend Courtney Walsh was the bowler to have the then-longest ever Test career as a pacer, before being surpassed by James Anderson (21 years). Meanwhile, Walsh also established himself as a pace-bowling legend in the transition of world cricket in the late 80s and 90s.
The Jamaica-born went on to play 132 Tests for the Caribbean side and scalped 519 wickets in 242 innings, with 22 five-wicket hauls and three â10-wicket hauls in a matchâ. Even after almost 25 years of his retirement, he is still the leading wicket-taker of all time for West Indies in Tests, alongside being ninth in the list of top 10 bowlers with most Test wickets.
Dale Steyn (South Africa) - 439 Test wickets (2004-2019)
Dale Steyn was undoubtedly one of the all-time pace-bowling greats for South Africa, following the white lightning Allan Donald. Steyn was regarded as one of the most complete pace bowlers, whose arsenal had almost all weapons like raw pace, accuracy, both-ways swing, bouncers, and a lot more that can trouble even the experienced batters.
In his one-and-a-half-decade-long Test career from 2004 to 2019, Steyn played 93 Tests for South Africa and picked 439 wickets, including 26 five-wicket hauls and five â10-wicket hauls in a matchâ. He is the leading wicket-taker of all time for the Proteas in the Tests, alongside the 10th in the list of top 10 bowlers with most Test wickets.
