Spinners dominate top 10 list for most wickets in T20 cricket

Former West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo currently holds the record for picking the most wickets in T20 cricket.

The right-arm medium pacer has bagged 600 wickets in 545 matches at an average of 24.12 and an economy of 8.21. He is the first and the only cricketer to reach 600 wickets in the T20 format.

Apart from playing for the West Indies cricket team, Bravo has donned the jersey of several franchises in the Indian T20 League, Caribbean Premier League, Big Bash, Vitality T20 Blast and Bangladesh Premier League. 

Since making his T20I debut against New Zealand in 2006, Bravo has been a vital cog in the West Indies team in the shortest format of the game, winning the ICC World T20 titles in 2012 and 2016.

In his stellar T20 career, the Trinidad and Tobago-born cricketer has claimed the most wickets for Team Chennai in the Indian T20 League, picking 183 wickets in 160 matches at an impressive average of 23.73.

Bravo is followed by South Africa leggie Imran Tahir, Afghanistan's Rashid Khan, West Indies all-rounder Sunil Narine, Sri Lanka legend Lasith Malinga and Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who recently became the highest wicket-taker in T20Is.

Besides Bravo, four players - Tahir, Rashid, Narine and Shakib - have scalped 400 plus T20 wickets. 

Interestingly, when T20 cricket was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003, it was believed that spinners would be clobbered all around the park in the shortest format of the game.

However, since the inception of T20, spinners have played an important role in most games. Five spinners are currently in the top 10 list for most wickets in T20 cricket.

Most wickets in T20 cricket

Featured photo: NOAH SEELAM / AFP