Who has taken the most wickets in Test cricket?

Muttiah Muralitharan has taken 800 Test wickets, the most of any bowler, in 133 matches.

Who are the leading Test wicket-takers?

The top four are Muttiah Muralitharan (800), Shane Warne (708), James Anderson (704) and Anil Kumble (619).

How many five-wicket hauls does Muttiah Muralitharan have?

Muttiah Muralitharan has taken 67 five-wicket hauls in Tests.

Most Wickets in Test Cricket

#	Player	M	Inns	O	Runs	W	Avg	E/R	SR	4W	5W
1	Muttiah Muralitharan	133	230	7,339.5	18180	800	22.72	2.47	55.00	45	67
2	Shane Warne	145	273	6,784.1	17995	708	25.41	2.65	57.40	48	37
3	James Anderson	188	350	6,672.5	18627	704	26.45	2.79	56.80	32	32
4	Anil Kumble	132	236	6,808.2	18355	619	29.65	2.69	65.90	31	35
5	Stuart Broad	167	309	5,616.2	16719	604	27.68	2.97	55.70	28	20
6	Nathan Lyon	142	263	5,816.5	17124	570	30.04	2.94	61.23	26	24
7	Glenn McGrath	124	243	4,874.4	12186	563	21.64	2.49	51.90	28	29
8	Ravichandran Ashwin	106	200	4,541.0	12891	537	24.00	2.83	50.70	25	37
9	Courtney Walsh	132	242	5,003.1	12688	519	24.44	2.53	57.80	32	22
10	Dale Steyn	93	171	3,101.2	10077	439	22.95	3.24	42.30	27	26
11	Kapil Dev	131	227	4,623.2	12867	434	29.64	2.78	63.90	17	23
12	Mitchell Starc	105	202	3,335.3	11481	433	26.51	3.44	46.20	20	18
13	Rangana Herath	93	170	4,332.1	12157	433	28.07	2.80	60.00	20	34
14	Sir Richard Hadlee	86	150	3,653.0	9611	431	22.29	2.63	50.80	25	36
15	Shaun Pollock	108	202	4,058.5	9733	421	23.11	2.39	57.80	23	16
16	Harbhajan Singh	103	190	4,763.2	13537	417	32.46	2.84	68.50	16	25
17	Wasim Akram	104	181	3,771.1	9779	414	23.62	2.59	54.60	20	25
18	Curtly Ambrose	98	179	3,683.5	8501	405	20.99	2.30	54.50	21	22
19	Tim Southee	107	203	3,915.0	11832	391	30.26	3.02	60.00	19	15
20	Makhaya Ntini	101	190	3,472.2	11242	390	28.82	3.23	53.40	19	18
21	Sir Ian Botham	102	168	3,635.5	10878	383	28.40	2.99	56.90	17	27
22	Malcolm Marshall	81	151	2,930.4	7876	376	20.94	2.68	46.70	19	22
23	Waqar Younis	87	154	2,704.0	8788	373	23.56	3.25	43.40	28	22
24	Daniel Vettori	113	187	4,802.2	12441	362	34.36	2.59	79.50	19	20
25	Imran Khan	88	142	3,243.0	8258	362	22.81	2.54	53.70	17	23
26	Chaminda Vaas	111	194	3,906.2	10501	355	29.58	2.68	66.00	20	12
27	Dennis Lillee	70	132	3,077.5	8493	355	23.92	2.75	52.00	23	23
28	Ravindra Jadeja	89	167	3,373.3	8741	348	25.11	2.59	58.10	17	15
29	Kagiso Rabada	73	134	2,239.2	7493	340	22.03	3.34	39.50	15	17
30	Allan Donald	72	129	2,586.3	7344	330	22.25	2.83	47.00	11	20
31	Bob Willis	90	165	2,892.5	8190	325	25.20	2.83	53.40	12	16
32	Trent Boult	78	149	2,902.5	8717	317	27.49	3.00	54.90	18	10
33	Pat Cummins	72	134	2,398.3	6946	315	22.05	2.89	45.60	17	14
34	Mitchell Johnson	73	140	2,666.5	8891	313	28.40	3.33	51.10	16	12
35	Zaheer Khan	92	165	3,130.5	10247	311	32.94	3.27	60.40	15	11
36	Ishant Sharma	105	188	3,193.2	10078	311	32.40	3.15	61.60	10	11
37	Brett Lee	76	150	2,755.1	9554	310	30.81	3.46	53.30	17	10
38	Morne Morkel	86	160	2,749.4	8550	309	27.66	3.10	53.30	18	8
39	Lance Gibbs	79	148	4,519.1	8989	309	29.09	1.98	87.70	11	18
40	Fred Trueman	67	127	2,448.2	6625	307	21.58	2.71	47.85	19	17
41	Kemar Roach	89	161	2,590.4	8051	300	26.83	3.10	51.80	15	12
42	Derek Underwood	86	151	3,643.4	7674	297	25.83	2.10	73.60	13	17
43	Josh Hazlewood	76	143	2,570.3	7144	295	24.21	2.77	52.20	11	13
44	Jacques Kallis	166	272	3,372.0	9535	292	32.65	2.82	69.20	7	5
45	Craig McDermott	71	124	2,764.2	8332	291	28.63	3.01	56.90	17	14
46	Taijul Islam	60	107	2,665.5	8158	270	30.21	3.06	59.20	14	19
47	Bishan Singh Bedi	67	118	3,560.4	7637	266	28.71	2.14	80.30	13	14
48	Danish Kaneria	61	112	2,949.3	9082	261	34.79	3.07	67.80	8	15
49	Neil Wagner	64	122	2,287.3	7169	260	27.57	3.13	52.70	13	9
50	Jason Gillespie	71	137	2,372.2	6770	259	26.13	2.85	54.90	8	8
51	Joel Garner	58	111	2,194.5	5433	259	20.97	2.47	50.80	18	7
52	Graeme Swann	60	109	2,558.1	7642	255	29.96	2.98	60.10	14	17
53	Brian Statham	70	129	2,495.2	6261	252	24.85	2.51	59.41	9	9
54	Michael Holding	60	113	2,113.2	5898	249	23.68	2.79	50.90	11	13
55	Matthew Hoggard	67	92	2,318.1	473	248	7.27	3.26	22.63	13	7
56	Shakib Al Hasan	71	121	2,612.3	7804	246	31.72	2.98	63.70	11	19
57	Ben Stokes	121	180	2,301.3	7689	246	31.25	3.34	56.10	9	6
58	Graham McKenzie	60	113	2,946.5	7328	246	29.78	2.48	71.80	7	16
59	Yasir Shah	48	89	2,375.5	7657	244	31.38	3.22	58.40	15	16
60	Bhagwath Chandrasekhar	58	97	2,660.3	7199	242	29.74	2.70	65.90	12	16
61	Abdul Qadir	67	111	2,854.2	7742	236	32.80	2.71	72.50	12	15
62	Javagal Srinath	67	121	2,517.2	7196	236	30.49	2.85	64.00	8	10
63	Abdul Qadir Khan	67	111	2,854.2	7742	236	32.80	2.71	72.50	12	15
64	Jasprit Bumrah	52	99	1,671.5	4631	234	19.79	2.77	42.80	7	16
65	Andy Caddick	62	105	2,259.4	6999	234	29.91	3.09	57.90	9	13
66	Chris Martin	71	126	2,337.4	7878	233	33.81	3.37	60.10	10	10
67	Mohammad Shami	64	122	1,919.1	6346	229	27.71	3.30	50.20	12	6
68	Darren Gough	58	95	1,970.1	6503	229	28.39	3.30	51.60	14	9
69	Ray Lindwall	61	113	1,971.2	5251	228	23.03	2.66	51.88	8	12
70	Andrew Flintoff	79	137	2,491.5	7410	226	32.78	2.97	66.10	11	3
71	Steve Harmison	63	115	2,229.1	7192	226	31.82	3.22	59.10	11	8
72	Vernon Philander	64	119	1,898.3	5000	224	22.32	2.63	50.80	8	13
73	Peter Siddle	67	126	2,317.5	6777	221	30.66	2.92	62.90	8	8
74	Mehidy Hasan Miraz	58	102	2,278.0	7052	219	32.20	3.09	62.40	9	14
75	Keshav Maharaj	62	106	2,051.2	6370	218	29.22	3.10	56.40	6	12
76	Chris Cairns	62	104	1,949.4	6410	218	29.40	3.28	53.60	11	13
77	Heath Streak	65	102	2,259.5	6079	216	28.14	2.69	62.70	16	7
78	Clarence Grimmett	36	67	2,408.5	5231	216	24.22	2.17	66.91	7	21
79	Merv Hughes	53	97	2,047.3	6017	212	28.38	2.93	57.90	14	7
80	Saqlain Mushtaq	49	86	2,345.0	6206	208	29.83	2.64	67.60	12	13
81	Stuart MacGill	44	85	1,872.5	6038	208	29.02	3.22	54.00	9	12
82	Moeen Ali	68	119	2,101.4	7612	204	37.31	3.62	61.80	13	5
83	John Snow	49	93	2,003.3	5387	202	26.66	2.68	59.50	12	8
84	Andy Roberts	47	90	1,855.5	5174	202	25.61	2.78	55.10	8	11
85	Jeff Thomson	51	90	1,755.5	5601	200	28.00	3.18	52.60	16	8
86	Jim Laker	46	86	1,913.5	4101	193	21.25	2.14	59.50	13	9
87	Chris Woakes	62	118	1,869.5	5686	192	29.61	3.04	58.40	5	5
88	Wes Hall	48	92	1,658.5	5066	192	26.39	3.05	51.84	11	9
89	Erapalli Prasanna	49	86	2,392.1	5742	189	30.38	2.40	75.90	17	10
90	Mushtaq Ahmed	52	89	2,088.4	6100	185	32.97	2.92	67.70	6	10
91	Geoff Lawson	46	78	1,853.0	5501	180	30.56	2.96	61.70	6	11
92	Shoaib Akhtar	46	82	1,357.1	4574	178	25.69	3.37	45.70	10	12
93	Saeed Ajmal	35	67	1,932.0	5003	178	28.10	2.58	65.10	9	10
94	Angus Fraser	46	79	1,812.4	4836	177	27.32	2.66	61.40	5	13
95	Sarfraz Nawaz	55	95	2,325.1	5798	177	32.75	2.49	78.80	14	4
96	Suranga Lakmal	70	122	2,073.5	6232	171	36.44	3.00	72.70	7	4
97	Iqbal Qasim	50	86	2,169.5	4807	171	28.11	2.21	76.10	13	8
98	Umesh Yadav	57	112	1,496.3	5263	170	30.95	3.51	52.80	6	3
99	Terry Alderman	41	73	1,696.5	4616	170	27.15	2.72	59.80	5	14
100	Hugh Tayfield	37	61	1,852.4	4405	170	25.91	2.38	65.39	5	14

Most Wickets in Test Cricket

Muttiah Muralitharan has taken the most wickets in Test cricket, 800 wickets in 133 matches, including 67 five-wicket hauls. He is followed by Shane Warne (708), James Anderson (704) and Anil Kumble (619).

Taking wickets across five-day matches over a long career is the ultimate test of a bowler’s skill and stamina. The table lists every leading bowler with matches and five-wicket hauls. Last updated 9 September, 2026.

Most Wickets in Test Cricket

Most Wickets in Test Cricket

Most Wickets in Test Cricket – FAQs

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