Who are the only 2 left-arm seamers and 1 off-spinner among these 11 bowlers to reach 300 ODI wickets the fastest?
Three hundred wickets in ODI cricket is not an easy feat to achieve.
According to our statistical analysis, only 14 batters have reached the milestone since the inception of the format.
Below, we look at the cricketers who took the least number of matches to get to the landmark.
11. Chaminda Vaas – 235 matches for 300 ODI wickets
Vaas was the most incisive bowler Sri Lanka produced in 50-over cricket. The left-arm seamer finished his career with exactly 400 ODI wickets. The Sri Lanka star underlined his credentials by taking his 300th ODI wicket in style.
His 300th scalp was one of four wickets he bagged while facing Zimbabwe in Harare in August 2004. Vaas toppled Zimbabwe’s batting order, taking 4/11 in nine overs in his 235th ODI match on his way to 300.
10. Anil Kumble – 234 matches for 300 ODI wickets
Kumble took a single wicket on his debut. He dismissed the Sri Lankan lower-order batter, Uvais Karnain, in his maiden 50-over match in April 1990. He registered his 300th victim 12 years later, when he accounted for Marlon Samuels’ wicket. As in the beginning, Samuels was the only batter he dismissed in that match.
9. Shakib Al Hasan – 227 matches for 300 ODI wickets
No other player has been as influential for Bangladesh as Shakib. The all-rounder has single-handedly won matches for his country with bat or ball and sometimes with both. That is what he did on the day he took his 300th wicket; he scored an outstanding 75 off 71 balls and took a four-wicket haul against England in March 2023.
Shakib dismissed Rehan Ahmed in his 227th ODI match to reach the milestone.
8. Javagal Srinath – 219 matches for 300 ODI wickets
Many considered Srinath as one of India’s fastest bowlers when he arrived in international cricket. The seamer blew away batting lineups with his pace and was India’s leading wicket-taker in Tests at one point.
Srinath took more four-wicket hauls than he did five-wicket hauls in 50-over cricket. He finished his career with seven four-wicket hauls and only three five-fers. He took his 300th ODI wicket with one of his four-fers. The pacer took 4/30 against the Netherlands in 2003 to reach the milestone.
7. Shaun Pollock – 217 matches for 300 ODI wickets
Sanath Jayasuriya was one of the most prolific run-getters in ODIs, and to take his wicket to register a milestone should feel good for anyone. The Sri Lankan opener was Shaun Pollock’s 300th victim. The South African seamer dismissed Jayasuriya in his 217th match when South Africa crossed swords with Sri Lanka in 2004.
6. Wasim Akram – 209 matches for 300 ODI wickets
The Sultan of Swing, as Wasim Akram was known, pioneered the era of conventional and reverse swing. He was lethal with both the old and new ball. When he bagged his 300th wicket, Akram did the damage with the new ball. He pinned Dave Houghton lbw before the Zimbabwean could inflict damage with the bat.
The scalp came in October 1996, 11 years after Akram’s debut 50-over match.
5. Lasith Malinga – 203 matches for 300 ODI wickets
Malinga had a toe-crunching yorker, a deceptive slower ball, and a menacing bouncer. His round-arm action made his deliveries harder to read, and that added to his incisiveness as a bowler. The Sri Lankan retired as one of the most lethal bowlers in 50-over cricket.
However, despite all the skills in his armoury, his 300th wicket wasn’t from a particularly impressive delivery. It was full and wide, and was somehow good enough to get Virat Kohli to mistime his drive to a fielder. Milestone wickets don’t get better than Kohli. The wicket came in his 203rd match, when Sri Lanka faced India in 2017.
4. Muttiah Muralitharan – 202 matches for 300 ODI wickets
Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva stole the show with the bat when Sri Lanka faced England in Australia for the VB Series in 2003. Jayasuriya made a 100 and De Silva a half-century to set Sri Lanka up for victory.
After England came out to bat, Muralitharan toiled without reward for 9.1 overs. The legendary spinner eventually bagged his only wicket of the match with his 56th delivery of the day. He dismissed James Anderson in his 202nd ODI outing.
3. Glenn McGrath – 200 matches for 300 ODI wickets
Australia has produced some of the greatest fast bowlers ever in the game. One of them was Glenn McGrath, the best fast bowler of his era. The Australian went wicketless in his debut ODI match as a 23-year-old. Eleven years later, he was older, wiser, and more lethal.
In his 200th match, McGrath combined with Brett Lee to disrupt Pakistan’s top order. He dismissed the opener, Kamran Akmal, to mark his 299th wicket, and then became the eighth bowler to collect 300 when he accounted for Pakistan’s number three batter, Mohammad Hafeez. McGrath finished that match with 3/34. Naved-ul-Hasan was his third victim.
2. Waqar Younis – 186 matches for 300 ODI wickets
Younis and Wasim Akram created an incredible fast-bowling duo. The two pushed each other to be better. Younis’ prodigious late inswingers authored the downfall of many batters, both in Tests and ODI cricket. The pacer targeted the stumps more often than not, and that is how he dismissed his 300th victim.
Younis trapped Nell McKenzie lbw early in the innings when Pakistan crossed swords with South Africa in 2000. It was his 186th 50-over outing. He is one of two bowlers to reach the milestone in less than 200 ODI appearances.
1. Brett Lee – 171 matches for 300 ODI wickets
Eight years and 172 days. That is how long it took Brett Lee to reach 300 ODI wickets. The only thing faster than Lee to the milestone was his bowling. The Australian was an exponent of extreme speed and could reach 160kmh. He shook batters with vicious short balls and unplayable yorkers.
However, he didn’t reach the milestone with his trademark quick deliveries. Lee undid Daren Sammy with a slower ball that the West Indies lower-order batter misread and miscued to offer an easy catch, which Lee took himself in the mid-off region. The wicket came in Jun 2008, in Lee’s 171st ODI appearance.