Cricket is one of the most popular games in the world. Cricket had grown very exponentially in recent times and has been one of the most paying sports for athletes. It has evolved from the oldest format of the game i.e. timeless to the shortest format i.e. T10. Although, these growths have haunted the bowlers, especially Spinners very much as they now have very little room to put their best. To surprise batters spinners need to be a mystery and to do so they need to evolve with time.
There have been various notable spinners, and today in this article we will have a look at some of the world’s top spinners of all time. The top spinners in the world of cricket have always had a wide range of bowling styles. These legends have been amazing throughout their career and have been a mystery to the opposition.
3. Anil Kumble (India)
The world of cricket was dominated by pacers till the late 1980s however in the next few decades world witnessed some amazing finger and wrist spinners who just conquered the world with their bowling. Anil Kumble is undoubtedly India’s greatest leg spinner. He has been phenomenal throughout his career and has helped India to win some memorable matches.
Kumble was very unusual with his action as despite being a tall person he used to ball with a flat trajectory to skid ball quickly. Those quickies were unplayable and have been a mystery throughout his career. Kumble had clinched 619 Test wickets while 337 ODI wickets. He is the only third player in the world to claim all 10 wickets in an inning of a Test match. notably, he is India’s only Leg spinner to captain the side.
2. Shane Warne (Australia)
The Australian great made his debut in 1992 and ruled the world for almost 15 years. With his amazing temperament and urge for wickets, he became the world’s first player to take 700 Wickets in Test cricket. He has always been in the headlines because of on and off-field action.
However, his on-field bowling ability has got him glory. There is little that he failed to achieve as he won Man of the match in the World Cup finals, and got a Test Hat-trick for winning the great Ashesh series in 1999. When he retired he was the highest wicket-taker in Test Cricket with 708 wickets. This was eventually broken by the great Muttiah Muralitharan. Although a vocal and majestic cricketer, unfortunately, passed away in 2022 and left a glorious legacy in the world of cricket.
1. Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)
Although they were very different in form of bowling Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne had parallel careers. After debuting for the Island Nation in 1992 he achieved glory very soon. He was a member of the Sri Lankan team that won the World Cup in 1996!
Individually, Muralitharan is the highest wicket-taker in both ODIs and Test Cricket. The spinner has 534 One Day Wickets and 800 Test wickets. His last and 800th Test wicket was Pragyan Ojha who was dismissed by him in the very last minutes of his last Test game. If not the finest bowler of all time Muralitharan is without a doubt the best spin bowler in the world.
Although his career has always been under scrutiny for various reasons. He has been scrutinized for his unusual bowling action and in the famous Pitch tempering controversy. However, Muralitharan never let these things haunt him and has become one of the greatest of the game.