Ravichandran Ashwin may not have finished 2016 with a century of wickets but the battle for who finishes 2016 as the leading wicket-taker across all formats finished with the Indian off-spinner taking the title of most wickets and become the first offie to do since Saeed Ajmal in 2013 ahead of Kagiso Rabada and Mitchell Starc.
Ashwin has had a fabulous year and overtook his personal-best tally of wickets in a calendar year, which stood at 87 and was set only last year. He finished the five-Test series against England as the leading wicket-taker but finished the year on 97 wickets.
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Courtesy of his career-best figures in the final Test against England, Ravindra Jadeja rocketed through the ranks and finishes the year with 63 wickets, joint-sixth along with Trent Boult and Rangana Herath. He and Ashwin, India’s spin duo, have combined for 160 wickets between them across all formats in 2016.
South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada, finished 16 wickets behind and had to settle for second-best, which is even more impressive when you consider that he only made his ODI and Test debut in 2015. The fast bowler ended 2016 with 81 wickets, which is the most for any fast bowler in the calendar year.
Extra Cover: Stats: Most runs in international cricket across all formats in 2016
Among the top five wicket-takers of the year, three are pacers but the top ten is equally distributed between fast bowlers and spinners who both have five each. Only 12 bowlers have managed to take over 50 wickets across all formats in 2016 while only Starc, Rabada and Ashwin have taken more than 75.
In the list of ten players with most wickets in international cricket across all formats in 2016, there is an even spread when it comes to players from various countries. Among the top eight countries, West Indies and Pakistan are the only two countries to not have a player in the top ten and while Amir is on 12th spot, even WI’s leading wicket-taker, Jason Holder, only has 30 wickets to his name.
Arguably the two most impressive candidates in the top ten are Mitchell Starc and Rangana Herath, who have played just 23 and 17 matches, while every other player on this list has played at least 26 matches, and have 80 and 63 wickets to their name respectively at an incredible average and strike rate.
England are the most represented country on this list with three players while Australia and India have two and South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand have one each.
Here are the top 10 wicket-takers in international cricket across all formats in 2016:
Most wickets in international cricket in 2016
| No | Batsman | Matches | Wickets | Average | S/R |
| 1 | Ravichandran Ashwin (Ind) | 31 | 97 | 22.89 | 40.9 |
| 2 | Kagiso Rabada (SA) | 32 | 81 | 24.69 | 31.9 |
| 3 | Mitchell Starc (Aus) | 23 | 80 | 21.23 | 33.5 |
| 4 | Josh Hazlewood (Aus) | 30 | 69 | 28.11 | 50.0 |
| 5 | Adil Rashid (Eng) | 34 | 67 | 32.23 | 43.0 |
| 6 | Trent Boult (NZ) | 28 | 63 | 29.39 | 48.0 |
| 7 | Rangana Herath (SL) | 17 | 63 | 20.28 | 42.2 |
| 8 | Ravindra Jadeja (Ind) | 31 | 63 | 27.39 | 54.3 |
| 9 | Chris Woakes (Eng) | 26 | 58 | 28.62 | 47.0 |
| 10 | Moeen Ali (Eng) | 41 | 54 | 53.12 | 76.4 |
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