Stats: Most Test wickets by left-arm spinners

Sri Lankan left-arm spinner Rangana Herath surpassed bowling legend Daniel Vettori to claim the number one spot for the most number of wickets taken by a left-arm spinner in the history of Test cricket. The long-serving bowler achieved the majestic feat by grabbing the wicket of Litton Das on Day 4 of the ongoing Test against Bangladesh at Galle.

Herath also went past Pakistan legend Imran Khan in the overall tally of Test wickets. The former Pakistani all-rounder owned 362 Test wickets to his name but the Sri Lankan expert spinner now stands at 364.

The veteran bowler who has only 74 wickets in One Day Internationals now finds himself at the 19th spot in the overall chart of highest Test wicket-takers. To look at it from a different angle, he is also the second highest wicket taker in Sri Lankan antiquity sitting right after the phenomenal Muttiah Muralitharan who has a colossal 800 wickets under his belt.

When we talk about left arm bowlers with highest wickets in Test cricket, Herath is second to one. The first spot is obviously owned by Wasim Akram who reached the mark of 414 wickets in his career.

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Rangan Herath made his debut against Pakistan in 1999 under the leadership of Arjuna Ranatunga and has done an incredible job ever since. He reached this mark of 364 wickets in just 79 matches which is far quicker than the other left armers in the list. He picked up a magical 9 for 127 against Pakistan in 2015 which marked his career best record and a brilliant effort to remember.

Daniel Vettori went down to the second spot following Herath’s achievement as his stats stand at 362 wickets from 113 Tests. Derek Underwood, Bishan Singh Bedi and Gary Sobers are the other left armers that follow with 297,266 and 235 wickets respectively.

Here are the top 10 left-arm spinners with most Test wickets

Stats updated till 11th March 2017