&#8220;The format would destroy bowlers&#8221; &#8211; said many experts during the time when ODI cricket rules were being set up. The dynamics of the game had changed drastically to meet the needs of scoring quickly, thus resulting in the batsmen becoming more innovative at the expense of these bowlers&#8217; fate.

With improved protective gear for the batsmen, the audacity went up and once again, it came at the peril of bowlers. The fear of being struck down started perishing to an extent, giving the batsmen more confidence to go after everything that&#8217;s thrown at them. The limited-overs cricket has not been very kind to bowlers, but despite the adversities, some of them managed to excel in it.

It has been difficult for bowlers in this format to keep hold of their top position for a long period of time, but here are five bowlers who bossed the ODI rankings for the bowlers during their prime years.

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-211601" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Shaun-Pollock.jpg" alt="Shaun Pollock" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-211601" class="wp-caption-text">Shaun Pollock of South Africa. (Photo Source: Getty Images)</figcaption>

One of the finest medium pacers of all time, Shaun Pollock was a top-notch contributor to <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/cricket-teams/south-africa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">South Africa</a>n cricket. He could pick wickets at will and also scored some vital runs coming in the lower order for the team. Formerly the highest wicket-taker in Proteas ODI history, Pollock was a king when it came to the rankings.

He was nearly impenetrable for a very long period of time. At the start of 1997,  Pollock was 35th in the rankings, but he took a steep jump to rise up to the top spot in December that same year. He stood there for a few months before Curtley Ambrose dispossessed him. He was back again on top in February 1999 and finished on the top spot that calendar year.

His true dominant period in these rankings came in 2002, from where he finished on top of the rankings at the end of a year on five occasions in the next six years. He was on top of the rankings when he quit the game in 2007, ensuring that he finished his career on a high.

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-47849" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/West-Indies-fast-bowler-Curtly-Ambrose-GettyImages-114066018.jpg" alt="Curtly Ambrose" width="700" height="501" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-47849" class="wp-caption-text">Curtly Ambrose. (Photo by David Munden/Popperfoto/Getty Images)</figcaption>

A few months after his international debut, in the early dry Antiguan season of January 1989, Sir Curtly Ambrose was 26th in the ODI rankings. Little did the world know how fast he would rise up to the helm, as he broke into the top 10 before June 1989.

For the first time in his career, in April 1990, the legendary fast bowler was ranked number one in ODIs, surpassing his teammate Courtney Walsh and fierce rival <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/reports-wasim-akram-played-key-role-in-removing-mickey-arthur-as-pakistan-coach/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wasim Akram</a>. From then till October of 1993, Ambrose was the undisputed king of the rankings and he always maintained a good margin from his nearest competitors.

After losing out the spot to Wasim Akram in November 1993, he had some on and off stints before he could finish 1996 as the world number 1, a feat which he achieved four times totally(1990, 1991, 1992, 1996). He finished with 225 wickets at an average of 24.12, making him one of the finest the game has ever seen.

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-87680" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Sri-Lankan-cricketer-Muttiah-Muralitharan.jpg" alt="Muttiah Muralitharan" width="600" height="403" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-87680" class="wp-caption-text">Muttiah Muralitharan. (Photo by LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI/AFP/Getty Images)</figcaption>

The greatest bowler of all time? Some Sri Lankans would argue on a fact that he&#8217;s the greatest cricketer of all time, and they could perhaps have a lot of facts to back it up. The wizard of the emerald isle as they called him, <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/10-greatest-odi-cricketers-of-all-time/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Muttiah Muralitharan</a> spun a web around batsmen which was nearly impenetrable.

In November 1997, nearly five years after his international debut, Muralitharan broke into the top 10 of the ODI rankings. Three years later, exactly in the same month, he topped the ranking charts for the first time in his careers and stood there multiple times throughout his illustrious career.

Although he was temporarily dispossessed in June 2001, he reclaimed the spot before the year ended. He kept having spells despite not ending a calendar year on the top beside his peak years in 2000 and 2001. But till the end of 2009, where he was nearing the fag end of his career, he remained in the top ten and was relevant amongst the most productive bowlers.

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-76612" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Joel-Garner.jpg" alt="BANGALORE, INDIA - OCTOBER 06: Joel Garner during the ICC Annual Awards at the Red Carpet on October 6, 2010 in Bangalore, India. (Photo by Ritam Banerjee/Getty Images)" width="600" height="467" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-76612" class="wp-caption-text">Joel Garner. (Photo by Ritam Banerjee/Getty Images)</figcaption>

The second tallest fast bowler in history after Pakistani pacer Mohammad Irfan, Joel Garner was an important member of the world-beating Windies unit. Garner is the highest-ranked ODI bowler and 36th in Tests as per the ICC best ever bowling ratings, stats which prove why he was one of the greatest in the limited-overs.

Two years into his debut in ODIs, he entered the top ten for the first time in December 1979. His fiercest competitors were his teammates in Sir Andy Roberts and <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/jasprit-bumrah-needs-to-rework-on-his-stressful-bowling-action-michael-holding/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Michael Holding</a> and that made him wait till June 1984 to claim the top spot for the first time in his career. His position at the top was impenetrable for the next couple of years.

In November 1985, he achieved the highest rating a bowler ever did in this format, touching the 940-mark. He finished on top of the rankings at the end of three consecutive calendar years from 1984 to 1986 and the great fast bowler retired just a few months after that. At the point of his retirement in March 1987, he was in the fourth position.

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-57077" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Saeed-Ajmal.jpg" alt="Saeed Ajmal" width="640" height="433" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-57077" class="wp-caption-text">Pakistani bowler Saeed Ajmal. (Photo by DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP/Getty Images)</figcaption>

A pretty controversial yet dynamic spinner during his days, Saeed Ajmal was a nightmare for most batsmen. One of the most highly rated off-break bowlers of all time, he mastered every art the spin world knew and made it ever so difficult with the white ball for the batsmen.

In May 2011, for the first time in his career, he broke into the top ten after a brilliant performance in the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/predicting-the-positions-of-2019-world-cup-teams-in-the-2020-t20-world-cup/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">World Cup</a> and the West Indies series that followed. In November that same year, he topped the ICC rankings for the first time in his career and finished that year in that position.

Lonwabo Tsotsobe had a brief stint at the top in 2012, but Ajmal was pretty much impenetrable at the top spot till December 2014 and had a career-best rating of 810 in 2013. He played his final international game in April 2015 and announced his retirement in 2017.

Honorable mentions: Geoff Arnold, Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq, Daniel Vettori

“The format would destroy bowlers” – said many experts during the time when ODI cricket rules were being set up. The dynamics of the game had changed drastically to meet the needs of scoring quickly, thus resulting in the batsmen becoming more innovative at the expense of these bowlers’ fate.
With improved protective gear for the batsmen, the audacity went up and once again, it came at the peril of bowlers. The fear of being struck down started perishing to an extent, giving the batsmen more confidence to go after everything that’s thrown at them. The limited-overs cricket has not been very kind to bowlers, but despite the adversities, some of them managed to excel in it.
It has been difficult for bowlers in this format to keep hold of their top position for a long period of time, but here are five bowlers who bossed the ODI rankings for the bowlers during their prime years.
<h3>1. Shaun Pollock – 1997, 1999</h3>
<figure id="attachment_211601" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-211601" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-211601" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Shaun-Pollock.jpg" alt="Shaun Pollock" width="640" height="400" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-211601" class="wp-caption-text">Shaun Pollock of South Africa. (Photo Source: Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>
One of the finest medium pacers of all time, Shaun Pollock was a top-notch contributor to <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/cricket-teams/south-africa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">South Africa</a>n cricket. He could pick wickets at will and also scored some vital runs coming in the lower order for the team. Formerly the highest wicket-taker in Proteas ODI history, Pollock was a king when it came to the rankings.
He was nearly impenetrable for a very long period of time. At the start of 1997,&nbsp; Pollock was 35th in the rankings, but he took a steep jump to rise up to the top spot in December that same year. He stood there for a few months before Curtley Ambrose dispossessed him. He was back again on top in February 1999 and finished on the top spot that calendar year.
His true dominant period in these rankings came in 2002, from where he finished on top of the rankings at the end of a year on five occasions in the next six years. He was on top of the rankings when he quit the game in 2007, ensuring that he finished his career on a high. 

<h3>2. Sir Curtly Ambrose – 1990-1993</h3>
<figure id="attachment_47849" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-47849" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-47849" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/West-Indies-fast-bowler-Curtly-Ambrose-GettyImages-114066018.jpg" alt="Curtly Ambrose" width="700" height="501" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-47849" class="wp-caption-text">Curtly Ambrose. (Photo by David Munden/Popperfoto/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>
A few months after his international debut, in the early dry Antiguan season of January 1989, Sir Curtly Ambrose was 26th in the ODI rankings. Little did the world know how fast he would rise up to the helm, as he broke into the top 10 before June 1989.
For the first time in his career, in April 1990, the legendary fast bowler was ranked number one in ODIs, surpassing his teammate Courtney Walsh and fierce rival <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/reports-wasim-akram-played-key-role-in-removing-mickey-arthur-as-pakistan-coach/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wasim Akram</a>. From then till October of 1993, Ambrose was the undisputed king of the rankings and he always maintained a good margin from his nearest competitors.
After losing out the spot to Wasim Akram in November 1993, he had some on and off stints before he could finish 1996 as the world number 1, a feat which he achieved four times totally(1990, 1991, 1992, 1996). He finished with 225 wickets at an average of 24.12, making him one of the finest the game has ever seen. 

<h3>3. Muttiah Muralitharan – 2000</h3>
<figure id="attachment_87680" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-87680" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-87680" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Sri-Lankan-cricketer-Muttiah-Muralitharan.jpg" alt="Muttiah Muralitharan" width="600" height="403" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-87680" class="wp-caption-text">Muttiah Muralitharan. (Photo by LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI/AFP/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>
The greatest bowler of all time? Some Sri Lankans would argue on a fact that he’s the greatest cricketer of all time, and they could perhaps have a lot of facts to back it up. The wizard of the emerald isle as they called him, <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/10-greatest-odi-cricketers-of-all-time/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Muttiah Muralitharan</a> spun a web around batsmen which was nearly impenetrable.
In November 1997, nearly five years after his international debut, Muralitharan broke into the top 10 of the ODI rankings. Three years later, exactly in the same month, he topped the ranking charts for the first time in his careers and stood there multiple times throughout his illustrious career.
Although he was temporarily dispossessed in June 2001, he reclaimed the spot before the year ended. He kept having spells despite not ending a calendar year on the top beside his peak years in 2000 and 2001. But till the end of 2009, where he was nearing the fag end of his career, he remained in the top ten and was relevant amongst the most productive bowlers. 

<h3>4. Joel Garner – 1984-1986</h3>
<figure id="attachment_76612" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-76612" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-76612" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Joel-Garner.jpg" alt="BANGALORE, INDIA - OCTOBER 06: Joel Garner during the ICC Annual Awards at the Red Carpet on October 6, 2010 in Bangalore, India. (Photo by Ritam Banerjee/Getty Images)" width="600" height="467" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-76612" class="wp-caption-text">Joel Garner. (Photo by Ritam Banerjee/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>
The second tallest fast bowler in history after Pakistani pacer Mohammad Irfan, Joel Garner was an important member of the world-beating Windies unit. Garner is the highest-ranked ODI bowler and 36th in Tests as per the ICC best ever bowling ratings, stats which prove why he was one of the greatest in the limited-overs.
Two years into his debut in ODIs, he entered the top ten for the first time in December 1979. His fiercest competitors were his teammates in Sir Andy Roberts and <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/jasprit-bumrah-needs-to-rework-on-his-stressful-bowling-action-michael-holding/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Michael Holding</a> and that made him wait till June 1984 to claim the top spot for the first time in his career. His position at the top was impenetrable for the next couple of years.
In November 1985, he achieved the highest rating a bowler ever did in this format, touching the 940-mark. He finished on top of the rankings at the end of three consecutive calendar years from 1984 to 1986 and the great fast bowler retired just a few months after that. At the point of his retirement in March 1987, he was in the fourth position. 

<h3>5. Saeed Ajmal – 2011, 2013, 2014</h3>
<figure id="attachment_57077" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-57077" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-57077" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Saeed-Ajmal.jpg" alt="Saeed Ajmal" width="640" height="433" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-57077" class="wp-caption-text">Pakistani bowler Saeed Ajmal. (Photo by DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>
A pretty controversial yet dynamic spinner during his days, Saeed Ajmal was a nightmare for most batsmen. One of the most highly rated off-break bowlers of all time, he mastered every art the spin world knew and made it ever so difficult with the white ball for the batsmen.
In May 2011, for the first time in his career, he broke into the top ten after a brilliant performance in the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/predicting-the-positions-of-2019-world-cup-teams-in-the-2020-t20-world-cup/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">World Cup</a> and the West Indies series that followed. In November that same year, he topped the ICC rankings for the first time in his career and finished that year in that position.
Lonwabo Tsotsobe had a brief stint at the top in 2012, but Ajmal was pretty much impenetrable at the top spot till December 2014 and had a career-best rating of 810 in 2013. He played his final international game in April 2015 and announced his retirement in 2017.
Honorable mentions: Geoff Arnold, Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq, Daniel Vettori

&#8220;The format would destroy bowlers&#8221; &#8211; said many experts during the time when ODI cricket rules were being set up. The dynamics of the game had changed drastically to meet the needs of scoring quickly, thus resulting in the batsmen becoming more innovative at the expense of these bowlers&#8217; fate.
With improved protective gear for the batsmen, the audacity went up and once again, it came at the peril of bowlers. The fear of being struck down started perishing to an extent, giving the batsmen more confidence to go after everything that&#8217;s thrown at them. The limited-overs cricket has not been very kind to bowlers, but despite the adversities, some of them managed to excel in it.
It has been difficult for bowlers in this format to keep hold of their top position for a long period of time, but here are five bowlers who bossed the ODI rankings for the bowlers during their prime years.
<h3>1. Shaun Pollock &#8211; 1997, 1999</h3>
<figure id="attachment_211601" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-211601" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-211601" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Shaun-Pollock.jpg" alt="Shaun Pollock" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-211601" class="wp-caption-text">Shaun Pollock of South Africa. (Photo Source: Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>
One of the finest medium pacers of all time, Shaun Pollock was a top-notch contributor to <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/cricket-teams/south-africa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">South Africa</a>n cricket. He could pick wickets at will and also scored some vital runs coming in the lower order for the team. Formerly the highest wicket-taker in Proteas ODI history, Pollock was a king when it came to the rankings.
He was nearly impenetrable for a very long period of time. At the start of 1997,  Pollock was 35th in the rankings, but he took a steep jump to rise up to the top spot in December that same year. He stood there for a few months before Curtley Ambrose dispossessed him. He was back again on top in February 1999 and finished on the top spot that calendar year.
His true dominant period in these rankings came in 2002, from where he finished on top of the rankings at the end of a year on five occasions in the next six years. He was on top of the rankings when he quit the game in 2007, ensuring that he finished his career on a high. 

<h3>2. Sir Curtly Ambrose &#8211; 1990-1993</h3>
<figure id="attachment_47849" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-47849" style="width: 700px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-47849" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/West-Indies-fast-bowler-Curtly-Ambrose-GettyImages-114066018.jpg" alt="Curtly Ambrose" width="700" height="501" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-47849" class="wp-caption-text">Curtly Ambrose. (Photo by David Munden/Popperfoto/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>
A few months after his international debut, in the early dry Antiguan season of January 1989, Sir Curtly Ambrose was 26th in the ODI rankings. Little did the world know how fast he would rise up to the helm, as he broke into the top 10 before June 1989.
For the first time in his career, in April 1990, the legendary fast bowler was ranked number one in ODIs, surpassing his teammate Courtney Walsh and fierce rival <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/reports-wasim-akram-played-key-role-in-removing-mickey-arthur-as-pakistan-coach/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wasim Akram</a>. From then till October of 1993, Ambrose was the undisputed king of the rankings and he always maintained a good margin from his nearest competitors.
After losing out the spot to Wasim Akram in November 1993, he had some on and off stints before he could finish 1996 as the world number 1, a feat which he achieved four times totally(1990, 1991, 1992, 1996). He finished with 225 wickets at an average of 24.12, making him one of the finest the game has ever seen. 

<h3>3. Muttiah Muralitharan &#8211; 2000</h3>
<figure id="attachment_87680" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-87680" style="width: 600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-87680" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Sri-Lankan-cricketer-Muttiah-Muralitharan.jpg" alt="Muttiah Muralitharan" width="600" height="403" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-87680" class="wp-caption-text">Muttiah Muralitharan. (Photo by LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI/AFP/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>
The greatest bowler of all time? Some Sri Lankans would argue on a fact that he&#8217;s the greatest cricketer of all time, and they could perhaps have a lot of facts to back it up. The wizard of the emerald isle as they called him, <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/10-greatest-odi-cricketers-of-all-time/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Muttiah Muralitharan</a> spun a web around batsmen which was nearly impenetrable.
In November 1997, nearly five years after his international debut, Muralitharan broke into the top 10 of the ODI rankings. Three years later, exactly in the same month, he topped the ranking charts for the first time in his careers and stood there multiple times throughout his illustrious career.
Although he was temporarily dispossessed in June 2001, he reclaimed the spot before the year ended. He kept having spells despite not ending a calendar year on the top beside his peak years in 2000 and 2001. But till the end of 2009, where he was nearing the fag end of his career, he remained in the top ten and was relevant amongst the most productive bowlers. 

<h3>4. Joel Garner &#8211; 1984-1986</h3>
<figure id="attachment_76612" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-76612" style="width: 600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-76612" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Joel-Garner.jpg" alt="BANGALORE, INDIA - OCTOBER 06: Joel Garner during the ICC Annual Awards at the Red Carpet on October 6, 2010 in Bangalore, India. (Photo by Ritam Banerjee/Getty Images)" width="600" height="467" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-76612" class="wp-caption-text">Joel Garner. (Photo by Ritam Banerjee/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>
The second tallest fast bowler in history after Pakistani pacer Mohammad Irfan, Joel Garner was an important member of the world-beating Windies unit. Garner is the highest-ranked ODI bowler and 36th in Tests as per the ICC best ever bowling ratings, stats which prove why he was one of the greatest in the limited-overs.
Two years into his debut in ODIs, he entered the top ten for the first time in December 1979. His fiercest competitors were his teammates in Sir Andy Roberts and <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/jasprit-bumrah-needs-to-rework-on-his-stressful-bowling-action-michael-holding/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Michael Holding</a> and that made him wait till June 1984 to claim the top spot for the first time in his career. His position at the top was impenetrable for the next couple of years.
In November 1985, he achieved the highest rating a bowler ever did in this format, touching the 940-mark. He finished on top of the rankings at the end of three consecutive calendar years from 1984 to 1986 and the great fast bowler retired just a few months after that. At the point of his retirement in March 1987, he was in the fourth position. 

<h3>5. Saeed Ajmal &#8211; 2011, 2013, 2014</h3>
<figure id="attachment_57077" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-57077" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-57077" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Saeed-Ajmal.jpg" alt="Saeed Ajmal" width="640" height="433" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-57077" class="wp-caption-text">Pakistani bowler Saeed Ajmal. (Photo by DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>
A pretty controversial yet dynamic spinner during his days, Saeed Ajmal was a nightmare for most batsmen. One of the most highly rated off-break bowlers of all time, he mastered every art the spin world knew and made it ever so difficult with the white ball for the batsmen.
In May 2011, for the first time in his career, he broke into the top ten after a brilliant performance in the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/predicting-the-positions-of-2019-world-cup-teams-in-the-2020-t20-world-cup/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">World Cup</a> and the West Indies series that followed. In November that same year, he topped the ICC rankings for the first time in his career and finished that year in that position.
Lonwabo Tsotsobe had a brief stint at the top in 2012, but Ajmal was pretty much impenetrable at the top spot till December 2014 and had a career-best rating of 810 in 2013. He played his final international game in April 2015 and announced his retirement in 2017.
Honorable mentions: Geoff Arnold, Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq, Daniel Vettori

The limited-overs cricket has not been very kind to bowlers, but despite the adversities, some of them managed to excel in it.

5 Bowlers who ruled No. 1 ODI ranking for years

It has been difficult for bowlers in this format to keep hold of their top position for a long period of time, but here are 5 bowlers who bossed ODI ranking