Best Pakistan Fast Bowlers In Tests Featured

Top 10 Pakistani 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 Pakistani 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 Pakistan.

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

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 Imran Khan PAK 1971 1991 1981 142 362 133.46
2 Sarfraz Nawaz PAK 1969 1984 1976.5 95 177 65.25
3 Fazal Mahmood PAK 1952 1962 1957 53 139 51.24
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS WKTS RAT
TS JM Anderson ENG 2003 2024 2013.5 350 704 200.00
1 Wasim Akram PAK 1985 2002 1993.5 181 414 117.61
2 Waqar Younis PAK 1989 2003 1996 154 373 105.97
3 Shoaib Akhtar PAK 1997 2007 2002 82 178 50.57
4 Umar Gul PAK 2003 2013 2008 90 163 46.31
5 Mohammad Asif PAK 2005 2010 2007.5 44 106 30.11
6 Junaid Khan PAK 2011 2015 2013 41 71 20.17
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS WKTS RAT
TS MA Starc AUS 2011 2025 2018 192 402 160.00
1 Mohammad Abbas PAK 2017 2025 2021 48 100 39.80

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 Mohammad Asif 44 2583 106 24.37 20.84 184.79
2 Imran Khan 142 8258 362 22.81 22.00 175.05
3 Shoaib Akhtar 82 4574 178 25.70 23.59 163.30
4 Wasim Akram 181 9778 414 23.62 23.65 162.87
5 Waqar Younis 154 8788 373 23.56 23.83 161.63
6 Mohammad Abbas 48 2318 100 23.18 23.84 161.57
7 Fazal Mahmood 53 3434 139 24.71 24.86 154.90
8 Junaid Khan 41 2253 71 31.73 29.43 130.84
9 Umar Gul 90 5553 163 34.07 30.23 127.41
10 Sarfraz Nawaz 95 5798 177 32.76 30.73 125.34

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 Mohammad Asif 44 2583 106 24.37 20.84 195.69
2 Imran Khan 91 5191 217 23.92 23.02 177.17
3 Mohammad Abbas 30 1621 65 24.94 23.77 171.55
4 Shoaib Akhtar 61 3634 128 28.39 24.22 168.43
5 Fazal Mahmood 50 3342 134 24.94 24.80 164.49
6 Wasim Akram 100 5614 219 25.63 24.84 164.21
7 Waqar Younis 85 5066 179 28.30 26.93 151.45
8 Junaid Khan 31 1795 56 32.05 28.89 141.19
9 Sarfraz Nawaz 69 4310 132 32.65 29.83 136.73
10 Umar Gul 73 4475 125 35.80 30.77 132.55

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 Waqar Younis 154 16224 373 43.50 44.38 298.90
2 Shoaib Akhtar 82 8143 178 45.75 44.86 295.69
3 Mohammad Asif 44 5170 106 48.77 47.25 280.74
4 Imran Khan 142 19458 362 53.75 50.24 264.03
5 Wasim Akram 181 22627 414 54.65 54.45 243.58
6 Umar Gul 90 9599 163 58.89 57.44 230.91
7 Fazal Mahmood 53 9834 139 70.75 59.13 224.32
8 Mohammad Abbas 48 5554 100 55.54 60.79 218.21
9 Junaid Khan 41 4605 71 64.86 62.77 211.31
10 Sarfraz Nawaz 95 13951 177 78.82 68.36 194.04

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 Imran Khan 8/58 8/60 7/40 7/52 7/80 6/35 6/46 7.00 96.08
2 Waqar Younis 7/76 7/86 7/91 6/34 6/44 6/55 6/78 6.43 88.24
3 Fazal Mahmood 7/42 7/80 6/34 6/34 6/46 6/53 6/66 6.29 86.27
4 Wasim Akram 7/119 6/43 6/48 6/61 6/62 6/67 6/91 6.14 84.31
5 Shoaib Akhtar 6/11 6/30 6/50 5/21 5/24 5/43 5/48 5.43 74.51
6 Sarfraz Nawaz 9/86 6/89 5/39 5/70 4/42 4/46 4/49 5.29 72.55
6 Mohammad Asif 6/41 6/44 5/27 5/67 5/76 5/77 5/89 5.29 72.55
8 Mohammad Abbas 6/54 5/33 5/46 5/62 5/66 4/23 4/29 4.86 66.67
9 Umar Gul 6/135 5/31 5/65 5/123 4/43 4/46 4/58 4.71 64.71
10 Junaid Khan 5/38 5/58 5/70 5/73 5/87 4/67 3/44 4.57 62.75

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 Imran Khan 133.46 352.22 264.03 96.08 845.78 338.31
2 Waqar Younis 105.97 313.08 298.90 88.24 806.19 322.47
3 Wasim Akram 117.61 327.07 243.58 84.31 772.58 309.03
4 Mohammad Asif 30.11 380.47 280.74 72.55 763.88 305.55
5 Shoaib Akhtar 50.57 331.73 295.69 74.51 752.49 301.00
6 Fazal Mahmood 51.24 319.39 224.32 86.27 681.23 272.49
7 Mohammad Abbas 39.80 333.12 218.21 66.67 657.80 263.12
8 Umar Gul 46.31 259.96 230.91 64.71 601.88 240.75
9 Sarfraz Nawaz 65.25 262.07 194.04 72.55 593.91 237.57
10 Junaid Khan 20.17 272.04 211.31 62.75 566.26 226.50

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 Imran Khan 59 163 19.21 47.07 887.77 26.63
2 Waqar Younis 66 174 20.48 38.82 768.01 23.04
3 Fazal Mahmood 23 65 18.14 60.11 722.19 21.67
4 Wasim Akram 70 154 22.22 51.12 691.39 20.74
5 Shoaib Akhtar 42 94 25.72 46.05 676.52 20.30
6 Umar Gul 36 81 28.86 51.56 637.62 19.13
7 Sarfraz Nawaz 45 81 33.17 80.17 544.35 16.33
8 Mohammad Asif 7 10 42.30 81.10 500.00 15.00
8 Mohammad Abbas 17 36 19.06 51.69 500.00 15.00
10 Junaid Khan 16 30 32.27 67.87 498.76 14.96

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BOWLER INNS WKTS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 Wasim Akram 111 260 24.45 56.75 798.39 95.81
2 Mohammad Asif 37 96 22.50 45.41 795.53 95.46
3 Imran Khan 83 199 25.76 59.22 771.78 92.61
4 Waqar Younis 88 199 26.25 47.59 769.99 92.40
5 Shoaib Akhtar 40 84 25.67 45.40 750.27 90.03
6 Fazal Mahmood 30 74 30.47 80.09 596.96 71.63
7 Mohammad Abbas 31 64 25.50 57.70 574.36 68.92
8 Sarfraz Nawaz 50 96 32.41 77.68 571.28 68.55
9 Junaid Khan 25 41 31.34 62.66 549.34 65.92
10 Umar Gul 54 82 39.21 66.13 522.90 62.75

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 Wasim Akram 79 198 24.81 57.09 835.66 25.07
2 Imran Khan 62 157 26.11 60.10 811.14 24.33
3 Waqar Younis 69 158 27.53 50.66 759.23 22.78
4 Mohammad Asif 33 79 25.03 49.56 694.56 20.84
5 Shoaib Akhtar 26 53 29.11 48.53 631.32 18.94
6 Sarfraz Nawaz 50 96 32.41 77.68 606.98 18.21
7 Mohammad Abbas 31 64 25.50 57.70 578.04 17.34
8 Fazal Mahmood 17 45 33.42 79.78 551.22 16.54
9 Umar Gul 36 65 34.78 59.71 534.31 16.03
10 Junaid Khan 8 12 29.58 74.50 500.00 15.00

Unfavourable Conditions Rating

Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BOWLER INNS WKTS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 Imran Khan 80 205 20.28 48.89 907.91 108.95
2 Waqar Younis 85 215 20.64 38.23 876.51 105.18
3 Wasim Akram 102 216 22.53 52.43 804.58 96.55
4 Shoaib Akhtar 56 125 24.25 44.57 777.65 93.32
5 Fazal Mahmood 36 94 20.53 66.43 714.88 85.79
6 Umar Gul 54 98 33.59 58.35 612.92 73.55
7 Junaid Khan 33 59 32.17 62.90 575.14 69.02
8 Sarfraz Nawaz 45 81 33.17 80.17 548.48 65.82
9 Mohammad Asif 11 27 22.44 46.48 500.00 60.00
9 Mohammad Abbas 17 36 19.06 51.69 500.00 60.00

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 Imran Khan 771.78 221.94 907.91 202.79 252.53
2 Waqar Younis 769.99 192.00 876.51 189.81 243.40
3 Wasim Akram 798.39 172.85 804.58 208.91 238.17
4 Shoaib Akhtar 750.27 169.13 777.65 157.83 222.59
5 Fazal Mahmood 596.96 180.55 714.88 137.81 195.62
6 Mohammad Asif 795.53 125.00 500.00 173.64 191.30
7 Umar Gul 522.90 159.41 612.92 133.58 171.46
8 Sarfraz Nawaz 571.28 136.09 548.48 151.75 168.91
9 Junaid Khan 549.34 124.69 575.14 125.00 164.90
10 Mohammad Abbas 574.36 125.00 500.00 144.51 161.26

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 Imran Khan 30 107 13.12 35.77 1,000.00 30.00
2 Waqar Younis 30 105 17.19 33.78 859.51 25.79
3 Shoaib Akhtar 30 82 21.74 39.21 747.17 22.42
4 Wasim Akram 30 84 17.98 39.71 741.36 22.24
5 Fazal Mahmood 23 65 18.14 60.11 670.30 20.11
6 Umar Gul 30 72 28.38 51.17 625.09 18.75
7 Mohammad Abbas 17 36 19.06 51.69 574.90 17.25
8 Sarfraz Nawaz 30 58 30.52 73.00 545.44 16.36
9 Mohammad Asif 7 10 42.30 81.10 500.00 15.00
10 Junaid Khan 16 30 32.27 67.87 435.69 13.07

TOP FORM AWAY

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK BOWLER INNS WKTS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 Wasim Akram 30 96 19.35 44.10 835.06 100.21
2 Mohammad Asif 30 89 19.79 40.62 827.85 99.34
3 Waqar Younis 30 90 20.94 37.64 819.58 98.35
4 Imran Khan 30 85 20.95 48.32 789.99 94.80
5 Shoaib Akhtar 30 75 22.71 39.52 770.81 92.50
6 Fazal Mahmood 30 74 30.47 80.09 633.91 76.07
7 Sarfraz Nawaz 30 64 29.38 70.88 582.38 69.89
8 Mohammad Abbas 30 63 24.90 56.52 582.22 69.87
9 Umar Gul 30 53 33.42 56.02 552.98 66.36
10 Junaid Khan 25 41 31.34 62.66 518.86 62.26

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 Imran Khan 142 74 52.11 787.45 118.12
2 Waqar Younis 154 77 50.00 728.86 109.33
3 Shoaib Akhtar 82 40 48.78 685.21 102.78
4 Wasim Akram 181 78 43.09 658.44 98.77
5 Fazal Mahmood 53 23 43.40 615.76 92.36
6 Mohammad Asif 44 19 43.18 579.55 86.93
7 Mohammad Abbas 48 20 41.67 575.84 86.38
8 Junaid Khan 41 16 39.02 529.17 79.38
9 Sarfraz Nawaz 95 33 34.74 517.11 77.57
10 Umar Gul 90 31 34.44 485.45 72.82

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 Imran Khan 30.00 94.80 118.12 242.92
2 Waqar Younis 25.79 98.35 109.33 233.46
3 Wasim Akram 22.24 100.21 98.77 221.21
4 Shoaib Akhtar 22.42 92.50 102.78 217.69
5 Mohammad Asif 15.00 99.34 86.93 201.27
6 Fazal Mahmood 20.11 76.07 92.36 188.54
7 Mohammad Abbas 17.25 69.87 86.38 173.49
8 Sarfraz Nawaz 16.36 69.89 77.57 163.82
9 Umar Gul 18.75 66.36 72.82 157.93
10 Junaid Khan 13.07 62.26 79.38 154.71

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 5 Imran Khan PAK 338.31 252.53 242.92 833.76
2 9 Waqar Younis PAK 322.47 243.40 233.46 799.34
3 14 Wasim Akram PAK 309.03 238.17 221.21 768.42
4 23 Shoaib Akhtar PAK 301.00 222.59 217.69 741.28
5 31 Mohammad Asif PAK 305.55 191.30 201.27 698.13
6 54 Fazal Mahmood PAK 272.49 195.62 188.54 656.66
7 77 Mohammad Abbas PAK 263.12 161.26 173.49 597.87
8 91 Sarfraz Nawaz PAK 237.57 168.91 163.82 570.29
9 92 Umar Gul PAK 240.75 171.46 157.93 570.14
10 108 Junaid Khan PAK 226.50 164.90 154.71 546.12

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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