Stats: Leading wicket-takers in the Ranji Trophy history

The Ranji Trophy has witnessed hundreds of bowlers who have made a mark in the tournament over the years but only a few ended up having successful careers in the domestic circuit and even fewer of them made it to the Indian national team. The likes of Rajinder Goel, Utpal Chatterjee and Padmakar Shivalkar failed to represent the Indian team despite tons of wickets in the tournament.

In the 83 Ranji Trophy seasons that have been played till the 2016/17, only Rajinder Goel and Srinivas Venkataraghavan have picked up more than 500 wickets each. Rajinder (637) remains the only player with 600+ wickets in the tournament while Venkataraghavan bagged 530 wickets. Rajinder leads the list of highest wicket-takers without playing Test cricket as Utpal is next to him with 401 wickets while Shivalkar bagged 361.

Leading wicket-takers in Ranji Trophy history:

Among the current players, pacers R Vinay Kumar and Pankaj Singh have the most wickets in Ranji Trophy with 356 and 351 respectively. The former Indian captain Bishan Singh Bedi has the best average in Ranji history as he picked 403 wickets at an impressive average of 15 while his strike rate of 44.03 is also a notable representation. Only five bowlers who hold 250+ wickets have an average less than 18.

Best bowling average in Ranji Trophy: (Min: 300 wickets)

Rajinder Goel leads the list of players with most five-wicket hauls in the tournament as he picked 53 five-fers, the only player with 50+ five-fers. Venkataraghavan’s 45 five-fers in the tournament are the 2nd most after Goel. The 17 ten-wicket match hauls Rajinder Goel has picked are also the most for any player in Ranji Trophy as no other player has taken more than 11 ten-wicket match hauls. Venkataraghavan, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Shivalkar, who all have 11 ten-wicket hauls, are the only players next to Rajinder with ten such hauls in the tournament.

Most five-wicket hauls for a player in Ranji Trophy:

Most ten-wicket match hauls for a player in Ranji Trophy:

(Stats as on October 3, 2017)