Afghanistan cricket team’s star spinner Rashid Khan has taken the fastest 100 wickets in ODI cricket so far, scalping a century of wickets in just 44 matches. The closest to him is Australian pace bowler Mitchell Starc, who managed to attain the milestone in 52 games.
Unlike Test cricket, where bowlers have an undue advantage early on, or in T20 cricket, where batsmen must take risks to score more in limited deliveries, ODI cricket allows batsmen the perfect blend of time and opportunity to stall and accelerate their innings. Hence, taking wickets in the 50-over format becomes all the more difficult.
Among Indian bowlers, Mohammed Shami has taken the fastest 100 wickets and is followed by the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Irfan Pathan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Zaheer Khan and more.
5. Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh)
The greatest bowler ever to come out of the Bangladesh cricket team, Mustafizur Rahman is the only bowler to be in the top 30 list of bowlers fastest to reach 100 ODI wickets. Making his ODI debut in 2015, it had taken him four years to get to 100 wickets.
Rahman’s pacey leg spin has completely bamboozled numerous batsmen in international cricket as the Bangladeshi pacer took just 54 games to take 100 scalps. It happened during the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup when Rahman took a whopping five-fer against Pakistan, albeit in a losing cause.
4. Shane Bond (Australia)
One of the fastest bowlers in cricket history, Shane Bond could instil fear into batsmen during his playing days with his sheer speed. The Canterbury-lad had made his ODI debut back in 2002 and took five long years to reach 100 wickets with the Black Caps.
Bond got his 100th scalp during the 2007 Commonwealth Series – a tri-series between England, New Zealand and Australia – where the Kiwis were facing England. Bond had taken a brace in that match as New Zealand defeated England by 90 runs.
3. Saqlain Mushtaq (Pakistan)
The legendary Pakistani spinner had made his ODI debut back in 1995 and it had taken him less than two years to reach the milestone. It happened during the 1997 Independence Cup hosted by India, where Pakistan were playing a group match against Sri Lanka in Gwalior.
Mushtaq ended up taking three wickets in 9.5 overs as Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by 30 runs. Saqlain Mushtaq is followed by great bowlers like Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar.
2. Mitchell Starc (Australia)
Mitchell Starc has been an effective bowler for Australia across all three formats, but his efficacy reached newer heights in this limited overs format.
Making his ODI debut back in 2010, Starc is the second fastest bowler to reach 100 wickets, a feat that came during Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka in 2016. Starc had taken three wickets in his 10 overs as the Aussies limited the hosts to 227 runs before winning the match by three wickets.
1. Rashid Khan (Afghanistan)
Debuting in the ODI format in 2015, Rashid Khan has been successful from the very beginning. He has taken a whopping 158 wickets in 83 matches at a strike rate of 26.8.
His 100th scalp, however, came in an ODI match against West Indies during the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup qualifier. Rashid Khan’s sole wicket in that match was of Shai Hope as Afghanistan had limited the Men in Maroon to 204 before winning the match by seven wickets.
Read Also:- Top 10 Bowlers With Fastest 100 Wickets In ODI