Top 10 Indian bowlers fastest to 50 Test wickets

India has never had a shortage of quality bowlers. Right from its early days in Test cricket, it has had a good mixture of talented bowlers at their disposal to support the batsmen. Playing international cricket for India is no joke.

There is a burden of expectations and abilities get tested rigorously. Therefore, generally players, especially bowlers, need some take some time to adjust and deliver results.

However, there are some bowlers, who belong to the extraordinary club and start giving staggering performances right from the beginning showing great promise and leave a great impact. Here in this listicle, we jot down 10 Indian bowlers fastest to 50 Test wickets.

10. Mohammed Shami – 13 matches:

Mohammad Shami’s rise in international cricket has been wonderful. The right-arm fast bowler is rated highly and is described as the bowler who has the ability to bowl perfect Test match length.

Not someone who is extremely fast, Shami relies on accuracy and varying lengths to fox the batsmen. Despite the lack of speed, he is a deceptive potent with the ball and smartly uses his away swingers and the bouncers to trap them. Old ball or new; flat tracks or helpful ones; Shami has all the tricks to survive and be successful.

It is versatility that has helped stamp his authority in the Tests level in a very short span of time. He made his debut for India in 2013 at Kolkata against West Indies and incidentally reached his 50 wickets milestone against the same opposition three years later at Antigua in his 13th Test.

Also read – Top 10 Indian pacers with most wickets in Tests

9. Pragyan Ojha – 13 matches:

Pragyan Ojha was India’s leading left-arm spinner after the decline of Murali Kartik. His bowling style delighted old veterans of the game. He as totally an orthodox bowler and likes to give the ball a lot of air. He was a highly promising bowler since the age group level and lived up to his promise to a great extent by playing for India in all three formats.

Ojha earned his Test call-up in 2009 on the back of a successful run in the Ranji Trophy and soon formed a good spin bowling partnership with the rising Ravichandran Ashwin. It took him 13 matches after his debut to reach the 50 wicket mark.

He achieved the feat two years after his debut against West Indies in 2011 at Kolkata. Unfortunately, his Test career went in a downwards spiral afterwards as he could only play another 11 Tests in his career. Ojha last played in the whites for India in 2013 and has 113 wickets to his credit in 24 Tests.

8. Venkatesh Prasad – 13 matches:

The tall, lanky Venkatesh Prasad was an important part of the Indian team in the nineties and shared the new ball with his state mate Javagal Srinath. While Srinath’s strength was his speed and away swingers, Prasad could seam the ball both ways and possessed a deceptive slower ball. He performed better away from home where the conditions suited his style of bowling.

The Karnataka medium-pacer made a memorable debut versus England at Birmingham in 1996 where he took 4/71 & 2/50 in the match. After snapping six wickets in his first Test, Prasad went on to grab 50 wickets in just 13 matches.

The most devastating spell of his career was at Chennai in 1999 where after going wicketless in the first innings, he brought the Pakistanis down on their knees with a spell that saw him grab 6 wickets for 33 runs, which included a spell of 5 for 0 to help India gain an upper hand in the match. However, Saqlain Mushtaq’s 10-wicket haul wasted his performances as India lost the historic match by 8 runs.

7. Erapalli Prasanna – 12 matches:

Earapalli Prasanna was the definition of a classic off-break bowler. Slow run-up, uncomplicated high arm action and the ability to make the ball fizz out of the hand were his characteristics. He loved outsmarting the batsmen.

An off-break and a good arm ball was all he had in his arsenal. However, his ability to vary his pace and bowl with an attacking length made him very deceptive in nature. His guile and loop made him the best batsmen in the world look like imbeciles at the crease.

He loved to bait the batters and often made them play false strokes which fetched him quick wickets. It didn’t take him much time to become his skipper Nawab Pataudi’s main weapon after making his debut in 1962 against England in Chennai. Prasanna needed only 12 Tests to snap 50 scalps.

Also read – Top 10 Oldest debutants for India in ODIs

6. Bhagwat Chandrasekar – 12 matches:

Perhaps India’s first unorthodox spin bowler, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar was a joy to watch in action. Polio withered his right arm when he was young but that couldn’t stop him from becoming one of the legends of Indian cricket. Chandra, as he was fondly known by his team mates, was a rare gem, different from other leg-spinners.

He would throw the ball with his left hand and support his bowling arm with the left hand while walking. But when he bowled with the polio-stricken arm he was a different man, one who would send down the ball with the speed of a fast bowler. The ball delivered from his whippy action would not turn huge. But, what helped him prevail over the batsmen was his cricketing sense and clever use of his googlies and flipper.

He made his Test debut against England in Mumbai. It took him just 12 Tests to reach 50 wickets mark. The special moment for him came against the same opposition at Leeds in 1967.

5. Subhash Gupte – 12 matches:

India’s leg-spin legend Subhash ‘Fergie’ Gupte was one of the earliest spin bowling superstars of India. His line and length was immaculate and could turn the ball really big. The West Indians who toured India in 1958/9 reckoned that Gupte could turn the ball on glass.

He made his debut in 1951 against England in Kolkata within a short period of time established himself as the lead spinner in the team. His performances in overseas conditions were unbelievable and helped him earn the reputation of being a world-class bowler.

He took his 50th wicket in his 12th Test against West Indies in 1952-53. His career came to an unexpected end at the age of 32 due to a bizarre reason. But, by that time, he had already done enough to set an example for future spin bowlers.

Also read – Top 10 Highest individual scores for India in T20Is

4. Harbhajan Singh – 11 matches:

It took Harbhajan Singh only 11 matches to reach 50 wickets. Harbhajan made his way into the Test team as a teenager in 1998. He was a great example of the classical way of bowling off-break. Full flighted deliveries with a good number of revolutions on it.

His tall height helped him extract a great amount of bounce. All this combination made him very effective. There were a lot of ups and downs in his career initially. Bhajji was dropped after playing just 9 games and cold make his return only after a gap of two years.

However, upon making a comeback into the team he created history in the memorable 2001 Border-Gavaskar series against Australia where he took a staggering 32 wickets in 3 matches including splendid 6/73 in the 2nd Test at Kolkata.

3. Narendra Hirwani – 11 matches:

It was an injustice that a talented leg-spinner like Narendra Hirwani could play only 17 Tests in his career. He started with an almighty bang. The bespectacled 19-year-old etched his name in the history book after he took 16 wickets on his debut against West Indies at Madras in 1987-88.

It was a grand announcement to the cricketing world a new leg-spinning superstar was in the making. This mighty record still stands after 27 years. He made his debut on January 14, 1988, and claimed 8/61 and 8/75 against the West Indies side featuring Desmond Haynes, Richie Richardson, Viv Richards and Carl Hooper to beat Australian Bob Massie’s 16-year-old record by a solitary margin of a single run.

This was perhaps the highlight of his career. From thereon on it took him only 10 more matches as he reached the 50 wickets mark in just 11 matches.

2. Anil Kumble – 10 matches:

Anil Kumble, a leg-spinner by trade, was treated a medium pacer by most of his opposition. He was highly unorthodox and had many similarities to the bowling style of his idol Bhagwat Chandrashekar.

Kumble was absolutely menacing on his day and was a thorough match-winner. The tall man who began his cricketing life as a fast bowler makes up for the lack of turn with the extra nip and bounce which he gets off the pitch to keep the batsmen thinking all the time.

He had a steady start to his career against England at Manchester in 1990. After a couple of below par shows, he quickly began reaping wickets and reached the 50-wicket mark in just 10 matches.

1. Ravichandran Ashwin  – 9 matches:

Ravichandran Ashwin has been India’s spin bowling spearhead for quite some time now. He was MS Dhoni’s wicket-taking weapon in the home conditions. A sharp turner of the ball, Ashwin purely relies on his off-breaks and variation in speed to pick wickets after fiddling with the carrom flicks for a while.

Ever since his Test debut against West Indies in 2011, his heroics with the ball at home have been nothing short of unbelievable. It took him just 9 matches to reach fifty wickets after snapping 9 wickets in his debut game at Delhi.

After a great honeymoon in favourable conditions during his debut series, Ashwin was exposed to the harsh conditions down under where he struggled badly. But, he treated it as a learning curve and came back as a more improved bowler, racing ahead of everyone to become the fastest Indian to 100 and 200 wickets as well.

Also read – Top 10 Players with most man of the series awards for India in Tests

(All stats updated till 25th July, 2016)