Four Bowlers With Highest Percentage Of Wickets As ‘Bowled’ In ODIs

While cricket may be a team sport, there are a lot of individual battles within every game that goes on to decide the fate of both teams. It’s obvious that the team which makes the least mistakes has a better chance of winning. There’s a firm opinion that goes around in cricket, which says in order to win games, teams should ideally bat well. However, in truth, it’s the bowlers that make or break a team’s fortune.

While batsmen continue to reign supreme in cricket, more so in the limited-overs formats, history speaks for itself, every ‘great’ cricket team of the past, have had bowlers contributing to the cause. Take Australia’s triumph at the World Cup 2015 for example, when Mitchell Stark picked up 22 wickets en route to his country’s title run.

And even though every dismissal is important for a team, ask any bowler, when they bowl out a batsman by taking his stumps, there’s no better confidence boost for them. It’s a totally different kind of accomplishment than an lbw or even a stumping.

With that said, today we will take a look at some lethal bowlers in international cricket, who have the highest percentage of ‘bowled’ wickets to their name in ODIs.

This list includes only those bowlers who have taken a minimum of 100 wickets.

Top four bowlers with the highest percentage of wickets as ‘bowled’ in ODIs

4) Wasim Akram

The Pakistan cricket team has produced many great bowlers over the years, Wasim Akram belongs at the top of that list. In his prime, the ‘Sultan of Swing’ was unplayable at times.

Akram played 356 ODI matches for Pakistan and amassed a haul of 502 wickets during his playing career, with an average of 23.52 and an astonishing economy rate of 3.89.

Of these, a staggering 176 times, he bowled out the opposition batsman, which means the 53-year-old has a percentage of 35.06%. Therefore, Akram stands at number four on despite having the highest number of wickets among all bowlers on this list.

3) Jerome Taylor

In his 14 years of career as a professional cricketer, Jerome Taylor could play just 90 ODI matches for the West Indies, since his debut against Sri Lanka, in June 2003. The all-rounder picked up 128 wickets throughout, with an average of 29.53 and an impressive economy rate of 5.22.

45 of Taylor’s 128 wickets came when he ‘bowled’ out opposition batsmen, therefore, he ranks at number three on the list of the highest percentage of wickets at 35.16%.

2) Waqar Younis

Waqar Younis stands at number two on this illustrious list of bowlers with the highest percentage of wickets as ‘bowled’ in ODIs, having a tally of 36.3%.

The 48-year-old made his debut in the 50-overs format on October 1989, and in the 14 years since, Waqar would go on to become a legendary figure amidst cricket fans not just in Pakistan but across the whole world.

He played 262 matches for the Green Army, picking up 416 wickets along the way, with an economy of 4.68. Waqar had an average of 23.84 in ODIs, which is a pretty impressive feat.

1) Mitchell Starc

The only bowler on this list, who is still playing, Mitchell Starc has been a truly influential figure in Australia’s success over the past decade. The left-arm pacer earned his ODI cap in October 2010 and his track record since has been nothing short of phenomenal.

The speedster Starc has played 91 ODIs so far, registering 178 scalps to his name with an average of 22.22 and an economy rate of 5.10. His percentage of wickets as ‘bowled’ stands at a massive 39.33%, having bowled out an impressive 70 batsmen.

Having already surpassed various legends of the sport in this particular category, the 30-year-old still has a few years ahead of him, so we can expect Stark to finish up his career with some stellar figures as a bowler.