The Indian cricket team has gone places when it comes to the batsmen, but our bowlers are not far behind. Over the years, we have seen some of the finest talents in the game of bowling for the Indian side on the pitch. With domestic tournaments like Ranji Trophy and the Indian Premier League, the players have more options to showcase their talent and become breaking cricket news. The fans are always up for a treat every time the Indian team plays.
While India may not be renowned for producing a plethora of high-class fast bowlers down the years, there has still been an assortment that can proudly stand shoulder to shoulder with other international greats.
Here celebrating the top 5 bowling talents that we have seen over the years in terms of wickets taken to play for the team in blue.
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Zaheer Khan
The talented pace bowler played for the Indian team from 2000-2014. In almost 14 years of his career, the talented player has played some great innings and is still remembered for his ability to move the ball both sides off the wicket. He has been great at reverse swing with the old ball. In 303 matches, Khan has sent 597 players back to the pavilion.
In his entire career, he has taken 5 wickets in a match 12 times and 10 wickets in one single match.
| Matches | Wickets | Average* | Economy** | Strike Rate*** |
| 303 | 597 | 31.48 | 3.89 | 48.4 |
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Ravichandran Ashwin
- Ashwin was chosen for the national squad based on his impressive performance in IPL 2010. The all-rounder is still making the Indian team and the country proud of his performance. His name is quite regular with the sports media and often makes breaking cricket news.
In a home Test series against Australia in 2013, he took 29 wickets and became India’s most successful bowler during any four-match Test matches.
He was honored as ICC Cricketer of the year, the 3rd Indian player to be awarded this title. Ashwin is considered one of the best spinners of the current generation and is the highest-ranked Test spinner bowler.
He succeeded continuously in the subcontinent but proved to be less effective in other places like England and Australia .
In his Test career, he has taken 5 wickets in 30 matches and 10 wickets in 7 matches which is the second-highest just after Anil Kumble.
| Matches | Wickets | Average* | Economy** | Strike Rate*** |
| 243 | 638 | 25.92 | 3.36 | 46.1 |
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Kapil Dev
No cricket fan hasn’t heard about this living legend. Arguably one of the best Indian all-rounders and one of the best Indian captains in cricket, the record-breaking player made his debut in 1978 and was one of the driving forces behind the team that lifted the World Cup in 1983. In 2010, he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
His accuracy and stamina were unparalleled, allowing him to bowl for long spells. He had an outswing delivered close to the wicket that always found its mark at a brisk pace of medium-fast speeds
The swinger would be remembered as one who never disappointed you with his shots – they were all near perfect!
He is the sole player in the history of cricket to have taken over 400 wickets and scored 5,000 runs in Test cricket, earning him the title of one of the best all-rounders in the game. At the time of his retirement, he held many records, out of which some are still not broken. His career was nothing short of breaking cricket news.
He has been responsible for sending half the opponent team back 24 times and the full team back in 2 matches during his career.
| Matches | Wickets | Average* | Economy** | Strike Rate*** |
| 356 | 687 | 28.83 | 3.05 | 56.6 |
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Harbhajan Singh
The Turbanator of the Indian cricket team has been famous both on and off the field. The specialist spinner made his debut in 1998 and had never looked back since then till his retirement from international cricket. It is commonly said that Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble together were a nightmare for batsmen on slow pitches.
Harbhajan Singh had many injuries during his career, but he survived and made it through and returned to competitive cricket successfully.
There was always a tough fight between the two spinners, and they never failed to disappoint the fans. Out of his 707 wickets, Singh has dismissed 5 players in 28 matches which is the third-best for an Indian player. He has dismissed the full team in 5 matches.
| Matches | Wickets | Average* | Economy** | Strike Rate*** |
| 356 | 707 | 32.59 | 3.32 | 58.7 |
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Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble or Jumbo was one player who could never be underestimated. He was a bowler who was always feared by the batsmen of his era. In his entire career, the iconic bowler has taken over 600 wickets in Test cricket alone and 337 in ODIs and was a regular name in cricket sports news. In one of his matches in 1999, he dismissed all players from the Pakistan cricket team and became the only Indian to do so.
Kumble has also served as the chief mentor for two different teams in the Indian Premier League, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians.
He still holds the record for being the highest Indian wicket-taker and has taken 5 wickets in a match 37 times.
| Matches | Wickets | Average* | Economy** | Strike Rate*** |
| 401 | 953 | 30.06 | 3.11 | 57.9 |
The above-mentioned bowlers have entertained the fans of their era and have also motivated the bowlers of the future generation to be like them and perform like them. With more and more bowlers making their debut, only time will tell how the record board will look in the next few years, but the game lovers are surely in for a treat and more breaking cricket news moments.
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