In the case of spin bowling, the ball reaches the batsman at a substantially slower speed than in the case of quick bowling. They do, however, have incredible rotation and a fantastic trajectory. Spin bowling is a tactic that is frequently used in cricket.
Spin bowling’s major goal is to bowl with rapid rotation, causing the ball to depart from the conventional straight route when it bounces on the field. This will make a clean hit by the hitter difficult.
To honour spin bowling’s contribution to cricket, we’ve prepared a list of the top spin bowlers of all time. Let’s take a look at the top ten greatest spinners of all time.
Also Read: 21+ Types of Bowling in Cricket: A Comprehensive Guide
10. Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka)
Rangana Herath, a former Sri Lankan cricketer, is the tenth player on this list of the greatest spin bowlers of all time in cricket. Apart from assisting his team in drawing wickets, he also led them as captain on multiple occasions.
When you look at his career bowling statistics, it’s easy to see why he’s considered one of the top spin bowlers of all time. Herath’s left-arm orthodox bowling style resulted in 433 wickets in 93 Tests and 74 wickets in 71 One-Day Internationals. These are extremely incredible career statistics that place Herath eighth on the list of the top spinners in cricket history.
9. Ravichandran Ashwin (India)
Ravichandran Ashwin, the Indian sensation, takes the ninth rank on the list of the top spin bowlers in cricket. His bowling style is right-arm off-break, and he serves as a bowling allrounder for Team India.
He broke onto the cricket scene with his extraordinary, brilliant plays that were completely unexpected. He began his adventure with the limited-overs format and eventually made it to Test cricket, representing Team India.
In November 2011, he made his Test debut against the West Indies after making his international debut in an ODI match against Sri Lanka in 2010.
Ravichandran Ashwin currently has 489 wickets in 94 Test matches, 151 wickets in 113 ODI games, 72 wickets in 55 T20I matches, and 171 wickets in 197 IPL games. Ravichandran Ashwin has been largely regarded as the world’s best spinner in recent years in Indian cricket.
8. Lance Gibbs (West Indies)
Lance Gibbs was a West Indian cricketer who played in the mid and late 1900s. His bowling style was right-arm off-break, and he is currently ranked eighth on the list.
He made his international cricket debut for the West Indies against Pakistan on February 5th, 1958, at the Queen’s Park Oval venue, and he played Test cricket until 1976, with his final Test match against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
He played a total of 79 Test matches throughout his career, in which he managed to take 309 wickets. In Tests, his best bowling in an innings is 8/38, while his best bowling in a match is 11/157. His average in Test cricket was 29.1, with an economy rate of 1.98.
7. Abdul Qadir (Pakistan)
Former Pakistani cricketer Abdul Qadir is widely regarded as a cricketing genius and ranks seventh on the list of the finest spin bowlers of all time. His right-arm leg-spin bowling had resulted in many wickets and fan adoration. He was an expert in a variety of bowling styles, including leg-break, topspin, flipper, and googly.
Former England captain Graham Gooch thought Qadir was a better bowler than even Shane Warne. Qadir got 236 wickets in 67 Tests and 132 wickets in 104 One Day Internationals throughout his career. Thus, Abdul Qadir is one of the most flexible and varied spin spinners in cricket history.
6. Harbhajan Singh (India)
Harbhajan Singh, a retired Indian cricketer, is well-known for his great bowling performances for Team India. He made his Test debut against Australia and his One Day International debut against New Zealand in 1998.
He has a vast list of accomplishments and milestones to his name, including winning the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, taking the second-most Test wickets by an off-spinner in history, and being the first Indian bowler to record a Test cricket hat-trick.
In his career, he took 417 wickets in 103 Test matches, 269 in 236 ODI matches, 25 in 28 T20I matches, and 150 in 163 IPL games. The list of India’s top spinners is genuinely dominated by Harbhajan Singh, who bowled the finest spin throughout his career.
5. Saqlain Mushtaq (Pakistan)
Saqlain Mushtaq, a retired Pakistani right-arm off-break bowler, is ranked fifth in the world’s top ten best spin bowlers of all time. He is most known in cricket for creating the “doosra,” an unorthodox off-spin bowling delivery that he both invented and perfected to a large extent.
Another of his notable accomplishments was being the quickest bowler in ODI history to reach the 100-wicket mark. He had an outstanding bowling career record of 208 wickets in 49 Test matches and 288 wickets in 169 ODI matches. His best bowling figures in an innings are 8/164 in Tests and 5/20 in ODIs.
4. Daniel Vettori (New Zealand)
Daniel Vettori is regarded as one of the greatest spin bowlers in New Zealand cricket history. His bowling style was slow left-arm orthodox, and he used to take many wickets for his international team during his career.
Between 2007 and 2011, he also served as the team’s captain. Vettori took 362 wickets in 133 Tests, 305 wickets in 295 ODIs, and 38 wickets in 34 T20Is during his international career. He is also one of only eight players in Test cricket history to have taken 300 wickets and scored 3000 runs.
3. Anil Kumble (India)
Anil Kumble, a retired Indian cricket hero, is ranked as the third-best spin bowler in the world. Anil Kumble’s name is often mentioned as the “greatest match-winner” for Team India, and with his right-arm leg-break bowling technique, he successfully continued his nearly two-decade-long cricket career.
Among his many career bowling milestones, his 10-wicket haul against Pakistan at the Feroz Shah Kotla in 1999 earned him the reputation of being the finest spin bowler in Indian cricket at his age.
In total, he took 619 wickets in 132 Test matches and 337 wickets in 271 One Day Internationals. Anil Kumble is the finest spin bowler in Indian cricket and one of the greatest spin bowlers in the world.
2. Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)
Muttiah Muralitharan, the Sri Lankan cricket star, is the second name on this list of the world’s top spinners of all time. During his age, he was regarded as the world’s top spin bowler in cricket from Sri Lanka.
He made his Test debut in 1992 and then his ODI debut in 1993, both with a right-arm off-break bowling style. Since then, he has played countless Test and ODI matches and established himself as the world’s number one spin bowler of his generation.
He took 800 wickets in 133 Test matches, 534 wickets in 350 ODI matches, and 63 wickets in 66 IPL matches. Muttiah Muralitharan still holds the record for most Test wickets with 800, making him the all-time leading wicket-taker in men’s Test cricket.
1. Shane Warne (Australia)
Shane Warne, the Australian cricket great who bowled numerous right-arm leg-break deliveries during his career, is widely regarded as the world’s best spin bowler of all time.
In 1992, he made his international cricket debut for Australia. He soon rose to prominence as a key player in his squad, taking multiple wickets and altering the course of games.
Warne’s one delivery against Mike Gatting on June 4th, 1993, during an Ashes game became immensely significant in the history of the sport, both in the context of the match and as the resuscitation of the leg-spin bowling style.
Following 293 wickets in 194 One-Day Internationals, he took 708 wickets in 145 Test matches. Warne’s greatest Test match bowling total was 12/128, and his best ODI bowling total was 5/33. Shane Warne truly deserves the title of the best spin bowler in the world of all time, based on his statistics and several records.
Final Thoughts
Spin bowling requires a high level of expertise on the part of the bowler. His role is critical for the squad since his style may drastically shift the path of the ball at the bounce and confuse the batter, particularly an inexperienced one.
Spin bowlers enter the game later in the game when the pitch begins to crack and crumble, and they use old balls that hold the pitch better to terrify batsmen. They are simply magicians, and we have presented you with the ten greatest spinners of all time.
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