The greatest bowlers of the modern era

2. Wasim Akram

Without doubt, the best fast bowler of this era. He was a master at swinging the ball, new or old. One of the founders of the reverse swing, he also had the ability to move the ball both ways in one delivery; a feat that only he has been able to achieve till now.

With Waqar Younis, Akram formed the core of one of the best bowling attacks of all time. The Sultans of Swing, as they were known, were capable of ripping through just about any line up on their day.

Many great batsmen of his era, including the likes of Ponting and Lara, paid their compliments to him saying he was the best bowler they had faced. Akram had the ability for swinging the ball both ways, but his inswinging yorker was perhaps the best delivery of its kind ever seen in cricket.

Akram was also instrumental in Pakistan winning the World Cup in 1992, with his superb second spell in England’s innings earning him a deserved man of the match in the final. With 414 wickets in just 104 tests, Akram made his mark on cricket with his beautiful, controlled swing bowling and inspired leadership as a captain.

1. Muttiah Muralitharan

Muralitharan tops the highest wicket takers list with a mind boggling 800 wickets in 133 test matches at a miserly average of 22.92. On that account alone he could be called the greatest bowler ever, but his bowling inspired awe from the batsmen like no other bowler ever could.

He is the game’s first and only wrist spinning off spinner, and can bowl three to four types of deliveries with almost no discernible changes in his action. This makes it extremely difficult to pick him since both his stock delivery and the doosra are bowled with a near identical action.

Although his bowling action was called into suspect several times during his career, he was never banned from bowling since he had a congenital defect in his bowling arm which made it impossible for him to straighten it while bowling. The rules of the game regarding bowling hand angles while delivery were subsequently changed to accommodate such anomalies.

Murali also holds the unique record of getting 10 wickets in a test match against all the other 9 test playing nations and averages a staggering 6 wickets per test match. Without a shred of doubt, the greatest bowler the game has seen.