Best Indian Fast Bowlers In Tests Featured

Top 10 Indian Fast Bowlers In Tests Since 1950

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All Test Ratings on the website are from 01/01/1950 onwards (Know Why). Most of our ratings are dynamic, and as new matches are played, the rating of earlier bowlers may change if current bowlers set new benchmarks. Brief explanation of the ratings is given before each section (Detailed Explanation). So, here are the Top 10 Indian Fast bowlers in Test Cricket since 1950.

*Note: All Test Ratings are updated till 2025-09-10

CONTENTS
1. THE CRITERIA
2. QUALIFICATION
3. PRIMARY CRITERIA
3.1. PROLIFIC
3.2. CONSISTENT
3.2.1. Against All Teams
3.2.2. Against Top Teams
3.3. ATTACKING
3.4. BEST BOWLING (WKTS)
3.5. PRIMARY RATING
4. CONDITIONS CRITERIA
4.1. HOME/AWAY
4.1.1. At Home
4.1.2. Away From Home
4.2. FAVOURABLE/UNFAVOURABLE CONDITIONS
4.2.1. Favourable Conditions Rating
4.2.1.1. Asians Outside Asia
4.2.2. Unfavourable Conditions Rating
4.2.2.1. Asians In Asia
4.3. CONDITIONS RATING
5. SECONDARY CRITERIA
5.1. TOP FORM AT HOME
5.2. TOP FORM AWAY
5.3. IMPACT INNINGS
5.4. SECONDARY RATING
6. OVERALL RATING
7. TOP TEAMS
7.1. Top Teams In Asia
7.2. Top Teams Outside Asia
Nations Filter

The Nations Rating filters the OVERALL Rating to show players only from India.

  • The Rating of the players from India remains the same as in the original OVERALL Rating.
  • Thus the Trend Setter can be from any nation and is not necessarily from India.

THE CRITERIA

CRITERIA CONSTITUENTS
Primary Wickets, Average, Strike Rate, Top Inns
Conditions Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia
Secondary Top Form Home, Top Form Away, Impact Inns
The Trend Setter (TS)

TS is the player which does the best in a criteria. The rating of all other players are calculated taking the TS as the benchmark. Know All About TS. Here is an example:-

  • TS Ave: 25.00; Player X Ave: 30.00; Section Points: 300.00
  • TS Points: 300.00(Max); Player X Points: TS Ave/Ave X 300 = 25.00/30.00 X 300 = 250.00
  • Ratings of all sections are calculated similarly with Ave being replaced by the Criteria Stat.
Top Teams (TT)

Some sections consider performances only against the top teams. Here is some information about the Top Teams:-

  • Win/Loss Ratio is used to determine top teams.
  • The top teams are calculated by decades.
  • Further, they are divided into In Asia and Outside Asia.
  • A bowler's performace is counted in TT if it comes in the specific condition and in the specific decade.

QUALIFICATION

Min Innings (TT) 30
Min Career Wkts 50

PRIMARY CRITERIA

CRITERIA STAT POINTS
Prolific Wickets Taken 200.00
Consistent Average 400.00
Attacking Strike Rate 300.00
Best Bowling Top Bowling Performances 100.00

PROLIFIC

The Eras

The time period from 1950 to present is divided into eras for this section. This is because less cricket was played earlier. To make it fair for earlier players they are compared with players of the same period with a slight reduction in points. Know More About Eras.

Era 1 MP before 1991
Era 2 MP between 1990 And 2016
Era 3 MP greater than 2015

Criteria: Points For Wickets Taken

RANK ERA 1 NAT FP LP MP INNS WKTS RAT
TS N Kapil Dev IND 1978 1994 1986 227 434 160.00
1 N Kapil Dev IND 1978 1994 1986 227 434 160.00
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS WKTS RAT
TS JM Anderson ENG 2003 2024 2013.5 350 704 200.00
1 Zaheer Khan IND 2000 2014 2007 165 311 88.35
1 I Sharma IND 2007 2021 2014 188 311 88.35
3 J Srinath IND 1991 2002 1996.5 121 236 67.05
4 IK Pathan IND 2003 2008 2005.5 54 100 28.41
5 S Sreesanth IND 2006 2011 2008.5 50 87 24.72
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS WKTS RAT
TS MA Starc AUS 2011 2025 2018 192 402 160.00
1 Mohammed Shami IND 2013 2023 2018 122 229 91.14
2 JJ Bumrah IND 2018 2025 2021.5 91 219 87.16
3 UT Yadav IND 2011 2023 2017 112 170 67.66
4 M Siraj IND 2020 2025 2022.5 76 123 48.96

CONSISTENT

R Ave

Relative Average (R Ave) is a more accurate type of average. Know How It Is Calculated. Briefly it takes into account:-

  • Strength of Opposition.
  • Venues at which a player has played.
  • Time Period in which a bowler has been active

Criteria: Points For Relative Average

Min Qualification For TS
Min Wickets 100

Against All Teams

RANK BOWLER INNS RUNS WKTS AVE R AVE RAT
TS JJ Bumrah 91 4341 219 19.82 19.26 200.00
1 JJ Bumrah 91 4341 219 19.82 19.26 200.00
2 IK Pathan 54 3226 100 32.26 25.84 149.08
3 Mohammed Shami 122 6346 229 27.71 26.08 147.70
4 N Kapil Dev 227 12867 434 29.65 27.33 140.90
5 UT Yadav 112 5263 170 30.96 28.05 137.28
6 Zaheer Khan 165 10247 311 32.95 28.24 136.37
7 J Srinath 121 7196 236 30.49 29.09 132.40
8 I Sharma 188 10078 311 32.41 29.21 131.86
9 M Siraj 76 3820 123 31.06 30.27 127.23
10 S Sreesanth 50 3271 87 37.60 32.40 118.88

Against Top Teams

RANK BOWLER INNS RUNS WKTS AVE R AVE RAT
TS JJ Bumrah 79 3990 185 21.57 20.39 200.00
1 JJ Bumrah 79 3990 185 21.57 20.39 200.00
2 N Kapil Dev 185 11028 371 29.73 26.75 152.46
3 Mohammed Shami 91 5189 174 29.82 27.48 148.40
4 J Srinath 69 4293 141 30.45 28.07 145.29
5 Zaheer Khan 117 7697 222 34.67 28.16 144.82
6 M Siraj 64 3390 106 31.98 30.20 135.03
7 S Sreesanth 36 2474 67 36.93 30.70 132.85
8 UT Yadav 78 3909 112 34.90 30.88 132.09
9 I Sharma 148 8353 229 36.48 31.69 128.72
10 IK Pathan 44 2682 59 45.46 34.24 119.13

ATTACKING

R SR

Relative Strike Rate (R SR) for bowlers is calculated using the same method as R Ave with average being replaced with SR.

Criteria: Points For R SR or Balls/Wkt

Min Qualification For TS
Min Wickets 100
RANK BOWLER INNS BALLS WKTS SR R SR RAT
TS DW Steyn 171 18608 439 42.39 44.21 300.00
1 JJ Bumrah 91 9348 219 42.68 48.00 276.33
2 IK Pathan 54 5884 100 58.84 51.39 258.09
3 Mohammed Shami 122 11515 229 50.28 52.18 254.18
4 UT Yadav 112 8979 170 52.82 52.38 253.22
5 Zaheer Khan 165 18785 311 60.40 56.85 233.30
6 S Sreesanth 50 5419 87 62.29 58.94 225.05
7 N Kapil Dev 227 27740 434 63.92 59.21 224.03
8 M Siraj 76 6419 123 52.19 59.30 223.69
9 J Srinath 121 15104 236 64.00 60.41 219.56
10 I Sharma 188 19160 311 61.61 61.12 217.01

BEST BOWLING (WKTS)

BBW

In this criteria, we have taken the top 7 bowling performances by Wkts of a bowler. Best Bowling By Wickets (BBW) is simply the total wickets taken in the 7 innings divided by 7.

Criteria: Points For Wkts Taken In Top 7 Inns

RANK BOWLER 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE WT RAT
TS N Kapil Dev 9/83 8/85 8/106 7/56 7/220 6/63 6/77 7.29 100.00
1 N Kapil Dev 9/83 8/85 8/106 7/56 7/220 6/63 6/77 7.29 100.00
2 J Srinath 8/86 6/21 6/45 6/76 5/46 5/60 5/95 5.86 80.39
3 I Sharma 7/74 6/51 6/55 6/134 5/22 5/43 5/51 5.71 78.43
3 JJ Bumrah 6/27 6/33 6/45 6/61 6/76 5/7 5/24 5.71 78.43
5 IK Pathan 7/59 6/51 5/32 5/45 5/58 5/61 5/67 5.43 74.51
6 Zaheer Khan 7/87 5/29 5/34 5/53 5/65 5/72 5/75 5.29 72.55
7 Mohammed Shami 6/56 5/28 5/35 5/44 5/47 5/112 4/31 5.00 68.63
7 M Siraj 6/15 6/70 5/60 5/73 5/104 4/32 4/66 5.00 68.63
9 UT Yadav 6/88 5/53 5/93 4/25 4/32 4/41 4/45 4.57 62.75
10 S Sreesanth 5/40 5/75 5/114 4/70 4/79 4/95 4/109 4.43 60.78

PRIMARY RATING

The total of the above four criteria comes out to be 1,000.00 points. The Primary Rating is the addition of the points a bowler scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 40%.

RANK BOWLER PRO CON ATT BBW RAT PRI PTS
1 JJ Bumrah 87.16 400.00 276.33 78.43 841.92 336.77
2 N Kapil Dev 160.00 293.36 224.03 100.00 777.39 310.96
3 Mohammed Shami 91.14 296.10 254.18 68.63 710.06 284.02
4 Zaheer Khan 88.35 281.20 233.30 72.55 675.40 270.16
5 UT Yadav 67.66 269.38 253.22 62.75 653.00 261.20
6 J Srinath 67.05 277.68 219.56 80.39 644.68 257.87
7 I Sharma 88.35 260.58 217.01 78.43 644.37 257.75
8 IK Pathan 28.41 268.20 258.09 74.51 629.21 251.68
9 M Siraj 48.96 262.26 223.69 68.63 603.54 241.42
10 S Sreesanth 24.72 251.73 225.05 60.78 562.28 224.91

CONDITIONS CRITERIA

The Conditions

The Conditions Ratings are calculated by applying the four criteria of the Primary Rating to diffirent conditions. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points. Click on the Ratings to see how they were calculated.

The four conditions criteria and thier weightage is as follows:-

CRITERIA POINTS
Home 30.00
Away 120.00
Favourable Conditions 30.00
Unfavourable Conditions 120.00

HOME/AWAY

HM/AW RATING

Points to note:-

  • U.A.E. is considered as a second Home for Pakistan and Afghanistan.
  • All Home and Away stats of Pakistani and Afghani bowlers are calculated accordingly.

At Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BOWLER INNS WKTS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 N Kapil Dev 119 219 26.50 55.76 786.85 23.61
2 JJ Bumrah 23 47 17.19 35.60 776.52 23.30
3 Mohammed Shami 42 76 22.11 42.62 764.04 22.92
4 UT Yadav 64 101 25.88 48.05 713.04 21.39
5 J Srinath 57 108 26.61 55.83 664.65 19.94
6 Zaheer Khan 70 104 35.88 70.28 576.08 17.28
7 I Sharma 77 104 31.64 65.63 569.51 17.09
8 S Sreesanth 21 31 39.55 66.94 504.41 15.13
9 M Siraj 25 19 37.00 62.63 461.89 13.86
10 IK Pathan 26 27 50.33 97.85 394.64 11.84

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BOWLER INNS WKTS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 JJ Bumrah 68 172 20.54 44.62 853.56 102.43
2 IK Pathan 28 73 25.58 44.41 724.78 86.97
3 Zaheer Khan 95 207 31.48 55.44 703.16 84.38
4 N Kapil Dev 108 215 32.86 72.23 691.69 83.00
5 Mohammed Shami 80 153 30.50 54.09 677.87 81.34
6 I Sharma 111 207 32.79 59.58 662.01 79.44
7 M Siraj 51 104 29.97 50.28 620.27 74.43
8 J Srinath 64 128 33.77 70.89 579.15 69.50
9 S Sreesanth 29 56 36.52 59.71 536.35 64.36
10 UT Yadav 48 69 38.39 59.80 514.39 61.73

FAVOURABLE/UNFAVOURABLE CONDITIONS

FC/UC Rating

Points to note:-

  • Unfavourable Conditions (UC) is Outside Asia for Spinners and In Asia for Pacers.
  • Favourable Conditions (FC) are the opposite.

Favourable Conditions Rating

Asians Outside Asia

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK BOWLER INNS WKTS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 JJ Bumrah 68 172 20.54 44.62 876.39 26.29
2 IK Pathan 13 35 23.57 39.11 739.65 22.19
3 I Sharma 88 171 32.49 60.15 724.69 21.74
4 N Kapil Dev 77 155 30.79 71.21 723.55 21.71
5 Zaheer Khan 66 147 31.26 57.40 695.96 20.88
6 Mohammed Shami 74 143 31.39 55.32 688.54 20.66
7 M Siraj 47 98 30.10 50.17 640.87 19.23
8 J Srinath 57 117 34.74 72.85 601.09 18.03
9 S Sreesanth 27 54 35.87 59.33 528.12 15.84
10 UT Yadav 32 51 40.27 61.24 471.16 14.13

Unfavourable Conditions Rating

Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BOWLER INNS WKTS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 Mohammed Shami 48 86 21.59 41.91 835.28 100.23
2 N Kapil Dev 150 279 29.01 59.87 815.41 97.85
3 JJ Bumrah 23 47 17.19 35.60 799.75 95.97
4 UT Yadav 80 119 26.97 49.21 760.92 91.31
5 J Srinath 64 119 26.32 55.30 707.94 84.95
6 Zaheer Khan 99 164 34.46 63.09 668.71 80.25
7 I Sharma 100 140 32.30 63.39 632.39 75.89
8 IK Pathan 41 65 36.94 69.46 551.88 66.23
9 S Sreesanth 23 33 40.42 67.12 508.31 61.00
10 M Siraj 29 25 34.80 60.08 486.34 58.36

CONDITIONS RATING

The Conditions Rating is the addition of the points a bowler scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 30%.

RANK BOWLER AWAY HOME UC FC CON PTS
1 JJ Bumrah 853.56 194.13 799.75 219.10 247.98
2 N Kapil Dev 691.69 196.71 815.41 180.89 226.16
3 Mohammed Shami 677.87 191.01 835.28 172.13 225.15
4 Zaheer Khan 703.16 144.02 668.71 173.99 202.79
5 I Sharma 662.01 142.38 632.39 181.17 194.15
6 J Srinath 579.15 166.16 707.94 150.27 192.42
7 UT Yadav 514.39 178.26 760.92 117.79 188.56
8 IK Pathan 724.78 98.66 551.88 184.91 187.23
9 M Siraj 620.27 115.47 486.34 160.22 165.88
10 S Sreesanth 536.35 126.10 508.31 132.03 156.34

SECONDARY CRITERIA

The Secondary Rating consists of three parts. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points. Click on the Rating Titles to see how they were calculated.

The three secondary criteria and thier weightage is as follows:-

CRITERIA POINTS
Top Form Home 30.00
Top Form Away 120.00
Impact Innings 150.00
TF RATING

Points to note about Top Form Rating:-

  • Top Form (TF) is calculated by taking the best 30 consecutive innings of a bowler.
  • There are two TF Ratings used in our OVERALL Rating: Home and Away.

TOP FORM AT HOME

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK BOWLER INNS WKTS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 N Kapil Dev 30 85 23.98 46.71 768.66 23.06
2 UT Yadav 30 62 19.55 36.15 740.34 22.21
3 J Srinath 30 75 22.88 48.61 711.88 21.36
4 JJ Bumrah 23 47 17.19 35.60 678.17 20.34
5 Mohammed Shami 30 60 20.48 42.02 676.27 20.29
6 Zaheer Khan 30 60 30.42 58.80 597.91 17.94
7 I Sharma 30 41 25.51 53.78 536.12 16.08
8 S Sreesanth 21 31 39.55 66.94 433.22 13.00
9 M Siraj 25 19 37.00 62.63 361.74 10.85
10 IK Pathan 26 27 50.33 97.85 342.41 10.27

TOP FORM AWAY

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK BOWLER INNS WKTS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 JJ Bumrah 30 89 17.81 37.91 814.65 97.76
2 IK Pathan 28 73 25.58 44.41 746.57 89.59
3 Zaheer Khan 30 82 24.72 44.59 725.41 87.05
4 I Sharma 30 62 19.65 45.13 694.98 83.40
5 N Kapil Dev 30 83 30.87 58.45 673.33 80.80
6 Mohammed Shami 30 62 24.71 43.21 643.28 77.19
7 J Srinath 30 75 29.93 56.17 636.31 76.36
8 M Siraj 30 66 28.77 45.71 613.09 73.57
9 S Sreesanth 29 56 36.52 59.71 533.78 64.05
10 UT Yadav 30 40 31.78 56.13 484.56 58.15

IMPACT INNINGS

II RATING

Impact Innings (II) are those innings which have an impact either in terms of wickets or strike rate. Know All About II. These are the criteria for an inning to be included in II:-

  • A Bowler takes equal to or more wickets than 5.
  • A Bowler equal to or more wickets than 2 at a good AVE or SR.
  • 1st and 2nd; and 3rd and 4th inns are clubbed together.
  • The required AVE or SR is calculated by the number of wickets taken.

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 30

RANK BOWLER INNS II II Perc RAT WTG
1 JJ Bumrah 91 46 50.55 749.70 112.45
2 Mohammed Shami 122 53 43.44 665.52 99.83
3 N Kapil Dev 227 85 37.44 646.69 97.00
4 S Sreesanth 50 22 44.00 605.18 90.78
5 I Sharma 188 74 39.36 598.70 89.80
6 J Srinath 121 49 40.50 575.16 86.27
7 Zaheer Khan 165 61 36.97 561.93 84.29
8 UT Yadav 112 37 33.04 495.69 74.35
9 M Siraj 76 22 28.95 427.96 64.19
10 IK Pathan 54 17 31.48 421.04 63.16

SECONDARY RATING

The Secondary Rating is the addition of the points a bowler scored in the three criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 30%.

RANK BOWLER TF HM TF AW II SEC RAT
1 JJ Bumrah 20.34 97.76 112.45 230.56
2 N Kapil Dev 23.06 80.80 97.00 200.86
3 Mohammed Shami 20.29 77.19 99.83 197.31
4 I Sharma 16.08 83.40 89.80 189.29
5 Zaheer Khan 17.94 87.05 84.29 189.28
6 J Srinath 21.36 76.36 86.27 183.99
7 S Sreesanth 13.00 64.05 90.78 167.83
8 IK Pathan 10.27 89.59 63.16 163.02
9 UT Yadav 22.21 58.15 74.35 154.71
10 M Siraj 10.85 73.57 64.19 148.62

OVERALL RATING

OVERALL Rating is the addition of the points of all the above criteria. The rating is out of 1,000 Pts.

RANK OV RANK BOWLER NAT PRI RAT CON RAT SEC RAT FIN RAT
1 7 JJ Bumrah IND 336.77 247.98 230.56 815.31
2 25 N Kapil Dev IND 310.96 226.16 200.86 737.98
3 29 Mohammed Shami IND 284.02 225.15 197.31 706.49
4 51 Zaheer Khan IND 270.16 202.79 189.28 662.22
5 57 I Sharma IND 257.75 194.15 189.29 641.19
6 59 J Srinath IND 257.87 192.42 183.99 634.28
7 73 UT Yadav IND 261.20 188.56 154.71 604.48
8 74 IK Pathan IND 251.68 187.23 163.02 601.93
9 98 M Siraj IND 241.42 165.88 148.62 555.91
10 104 S Sreesanth IND 224.91 156.34 167.83 549.07

TOP TEAMS

Top Teams In Asia

DECADE OF MAT 1 2 3 4 5 6
1950s AUS WI PAK IND ENG
1960s WI AUS PAK IND ENG SA
1970s PAK ENG IND WI SA AUS
1980s PAK WI ENG NZ AUS
1990s IND PAK SA AUS WI
2000s AUS IND SL PAK SA ENG
2010s IND PAK SL ENG SA AUS
2020s IND AUS PAK NZ ENG SA

Top Teams Outside Asia

DECADE OF MAT 1 2 3 4 5
1950s AUS ENG WI SA PAK
1960s ENG AUS WI SA NZ
1970s SA ENG WI AUS IND
1980s WI NZ AUS ENG PAK
1990s AUS SA WI PAK ENG
2000s AUS ENG SA IND NZ
2010s SA AUS ENG NZ IND
2020s AUS NZ ENG SA IND

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