Highest Wicket-Takers in ODI Cricket: Muralitharan's 534, Ranked Top 15

Muttiah Muralitharan is the highest wicket-taker in ODI cricket history, with 534 wickets from 350 matches between 1993 and 2011 — a total no other bowler has come within 30 wickets of in the 15 years since he retired. Wasim Akram sits second with 502, the only fast bowler ever to reach 500 ODI wickets. Between them, an off-spinner from Sri Lanka and a left-arm quick from Pakistan who helped pioneer reverse swing as a weapon took wickets across three decades of one-day cricket, and their tallies still sit clear of everyone who has bowled in the format since.

How this list is ranked

This ranking uses career ODI wickets as the sole ordering criterion, sourced from ESPNcricinfo’s official bowling records and cross-checked against Wikipedia’s compiled list of 300-plus-wicket bowlers. Ties are broken by fewer matches needed to reach the total (a rough proxy for strike rate). The list covers only men’s full-member international ODIs; wickets in T20Is, Tests, or franchise leagues are not counted here. Career figures for retired players are final; figures for anyone still playing would need checking against a live source, though none of the top 15 below is currently active.

All-time highest wicket-takers in ODIs (top 15)

Rank	Bowler	Country	Wickets	Matches	Career span	Average
1	Muttiah Muralitharan	Sri Lanka	534	350	1993–2011	23.08
2	Wasim Akram	Pakistan	502	356	1984–2003	23.52
3	Waqar Younis	Pakistan	416	262	1989–2003	23.84
4	Chaminda Vaas	Sri Lanka	400	322	1994–2008	27.53
5	Shahid Afridi	Pakistan	395	398	1996–2015	34.51
6	Shaun Pollock	South Africa	393	303	1996–2008	24.50
7	Glenn McGrath	Australia	381	250	1993–2007	22.02
8	Brett Lee	Australia	380	221	2000–2012	23.36
9	Lasith Malinga	Sri Lanka	338	226	2004–2019	28.87
10	Anil Kumble	India	337	271	1990–2007	30.89
11	Sanath Jayasuriya	Sri Lanka	323	445	1989–2011	36.75
12	Shakib Al Hasan	Bangladesh	317	247	2006–2023	29.52
13	Javagal Srinath	India	315	229	1991–2003	28.08
14	Daniel Vettori	New Zealand	305	295	1997–2015	31.71
15	Shane Warne	Australia	293	194	1993–2005	25.74

Figures verified against ESPNcricinfo and Wikipedia’s 300+ ODI wickets list as of 2026. Sanath Jayasuriya and Shakib Al Hasan were primarily all-rounders whose wickets came alongside major batting contributions.

Muralitharan’s record: how he got to 534

Murali built his tally on two deliveries: the standard off-break and the doosra, a variation that spun the other way and left batters guessing which was coming. He took wickets at a similar rate at home in Colombo as he did on neutral pitches in England, South Africa, and Australia — conditions that historically punished finger-spinners — while keeping his economy low enough that captains could bowl him through the middle overs without bleeding runs. His 534 wickets came from 350 matches, a strike rate of roughly one wicket every 34 balls, sustained across an 18-year career. Combined with his 800 Test wickets, he is also the all-time leader in Test wickets and, across all formats combined, the most wickets in cricket history by any bowler.

Wasim Akram: the only fast bowler past 500

Wasim Akram’s 502 wickets remain the standard for pace bowling in limited-overs cricket, and no other quick has come within 85 wickets of that number. He got there with late swing, mastery of reverse swing with the old ball, and the versatility to open the bowling with the new ball and then return for the death overs — a combination that made him a fixture among the greatest fast bowlers in the game’s history. His new-ball partner Waqar Younis sits third on this list with 416, and together they gave Pakistan the two highest fast-bowling wicket tallies the format has produced.

What separates the top of this list

Sustained success in ODIs, more than any single skill, requires:

• Longevity — reaching the top of this list means playing 250–450 matches across a decade or more; Jayasuriya needed 445 games to reach 323 wickets, while McGrath got to 381 in just 250
• Wicket-taking over containment — the players here average between 22 and 37 with the ball, but all of them were picked to take wickets, not just slow the run rate
• Adaptability — performing on flat subcontinental pitches, seaming English decks, and bouncy Australian tracks in the same career
• Durability — ODI careers stretching 15+ years, which is rarer now than it was for this generation

2026 status: how far away are today’s bowlers?

Nobody currently playing is within striking distance of this list. As of 2026, the leading active ODI wicket-taker is Australia’s Mitchell Starc with roughly 244 wickets — over 250 short of Muralitharan’s total and short even of Shane Warne’s 293 at #15. India’s Ravindra Jadeja (around 231) and England’s Adil Rashid (around 224) are next among active bowlers, with India’s Mohammed Shami around 206. The gap exists because modern international schedules split workload across Tests, ODIs, and T20Is, so even durable, long-serving bowlers now play far fewer 50-over matches per year than Murali, Akram, or Jayasuriya did in the 1990s and 2000s. Barring an unusually long and prolific late-career run from one of today’s leaders, both the 534 and 502 marks look safe for years to come.