Best Pakistani Spin Bowlers In Tests Featured

Top 10 Pakistani Spin 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 Spin 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 In Asia
4.2.2. Unfavourable Conditions Rating
4.2.2.1. Asians Outside 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 LR Gibbs WI 1958 1976 1967 148 309 140.00
1 Abdul Qadir PAK 1977 1990 1983.5 111 236 106.93
2 Iqbal Qasim PAK 1976 1988 1982 86 171 77.48
3 Intikhab Alam PAK 1959 1977 1968 78 125 56.63
4 Mushtaq Mohammad PAK 1959 1979 1969 70 79 35.79
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS WKTS RAT
TS M Muralitharan SL 1992 2010 2001 230 800 200.00
1 Danish Kaneria PAK 2000 2010 2005 112 261 65.25
2 Saqlain Mushtaq PAK 1995 2004 1999.5 86 208 52.00
3 Mushtaq Ahmed PAK 1990 2003 1996.5 89 185 46.25
4 Saeed Ajmal PAK 2009 2014 2011.5 67 178 44.50
5 Abdur Rehman PAK 2007 2014 2010.5 43 99 24.75
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS WKTS RAT
TS NM Lyon AUS 2011 2025 2018 259 562 170.00
1 Yasir Shah PAK 2014 2022 2018 89 244 73.81

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 M Muralitharan 230 18180 800 22.73 23.65 200.00
1 Iqbal Qasim 86 4807 171 28.11 27.22 173.75
2 Saeed Ajmal 67 5003 178 28.11 28.08 168.39
3 Mushtaq Mohammad 70 2309 79 29.23 28.98 163.21
4 Yasir Shah 89 7657 244 31.38 30.41 155.50
5 Saqlain Mushtaq 86 6206 208 29.84 30.60 154.55
6 Abdur Rehman 43 2910 99 29.39 30.74 153.87
7 Abdul Qadir 111 7742 236 32.81 31.16 151.79
8 Danish Kaneria 112 9082 261 34.80 31.58 149.74
9 Mushtaq Ahmed 89 6100 185 32.97 32.24 146.67
10 Intikhab Alam 78 4494 125 35.95 37.76 125.24

Against Top Teams

RANK BOWLER INNS RUNS WKTS AVE R AVE RAT
TS SK Warne 211 14215 559 25.43 24.22 200.00
1 Iqbal Qasim 66 3743 135 27.73 27.36 177.04
2 Saqlain Mushtaq 43 3603 120 30.03 28.09 172.47
3 Saeed Ajmal 53 4062 132 30.77 29.43 164.58
4 Abdul Qadir 79 5959 193 30.88 29.45 164.50
5 Mushtaq Mohammad 54 1796 55 32.65 30.69 157.84
6 Yasir Shah 54 4598 131 35.10 31.14 155.59
7 Abdur Rehman 31 2321 70 33.16 32.90 147.22
8 Danish Kaneria 87 7389 193 38.28 33.00 146.78
9 Mushtaq Ahmed 62 4277 119 35.94 34.37 140.94
10 Intikhab Alam 57 3365 73 46.10 45.42 106.65

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 SK Warne 273 40704 708 57.49 58.23 300.00
1 Mushtaq Mohammad 70 5260 79 66.58 57.88 300.00
2 Abdul Qadir 111 17126 236 72.57 64.78 269.67
3 Mushtaq Ahmed 89 12532 185 67.74 66.52 262.61
4 Yasir Shah 89 14255 244 58.42 67.31 259.52
5 Iqbal Qasim 86 13019 171 76.13 68.18 256.23
6 Danish Kaneria 112 17697 261 67.80 70.73 246.97
7 Saqlain Mushtaq 86 14070 208 67.64 71.89 243.01
8 Saeed Ajmal 67 11592 178 65.12 74.42 234.73
9 Intikhab Alam 78 10474 125 83.79 75.35 231.83
10 Abdur Rehman 43 6892 99 69.62 81.35 214.73

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 M Muralitharan 9/51 9/65 8/46 8/70 8/87 7/46 7/84 8.00 100.00
1 Abdul Qadir 9/56 7/96 7/142 6/16 6/44 6/160 5/44 6.57 82.14
1 Danish Kaneria 7/77 7/118 7/168 7/188 6/42 6/52 6/150 6.57 82.14
1 Yasir Shah 8/41 7/76 7/94 6/63 6/72 6/96 6/124 6.57 82.14
4 Saeed Ajmal 7/55 7/95 6/42 6/96 6/151 5/68 5/69 6.00 75.00
5 Mushtaq Ahmed 7/56 6/78 6/78 6/84 6/87 5/35 5/57 5.86 73.21
5 Saqlain Mushtaq 8/164 7/66 6/46 5/32 5/35 5/54 5/89 5.86 73.21
7 Iqbal Qasim 7/49 6/40 6/89 6/141 5/35 5/48 5/78 5.71 71.43
8 Intikhab Alam 7/52 6/127 5/91 5/91 5/116 4/35 4/39 5.14 64.29
9 Mushtaq Mohammad 5/28 5/49 5/59 4/50 4/55 4/58 4/60 4.43 55.36
9 Abdur Rehman 6/25 5/40 4/36 4/51 4/56 4/65 4/78 4.43 55.36

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 Abdul Qadir 106.93 316.29 269.67 82.14 775.03 310.01
2 Iqbal Qasim 77.48 350.79 256.23 71.43 755.92 302.37
3 Yasir Shah 73.81 311.09 259.52 82.14 726.55 290.62
4 Mushtaq Mohammad 35.79 321.05 300.00 55.36 712.20 284.88
5 Saqlain Mushtaq 52.00 327.02 243.01 73.21 695.25 278.10
6 Danish Kaneria 65.25 296.52 246.97 82.14 690.89 276.36
7 Saeed Ajmal 44.50 332.98 234.73 75.00 687.20 274.88
8 Mushtaq Ahmed 46.25 287.61 262.61 73.21 669.69 267.87
9 Abdur Rehman 24.75 301.09 214.73 55.36 595.93 238.37
10 Intikhab Alam 56.63 231.89 231.83 64.29 584.64 233.86

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 Abdul Qadir 68 168 26.82 62.29 838.70 25.16
2 Iqbal Qasim 50 111 25.15 72.70 743.50 22.31
3 Yasir Shah 41 130 25.85 53.24 717.04 21.51
4 Saeed Ajmal 23 67 26.46 64.97 647.90 19.44
5 Saqlain Mushtaq 40 90 30.11 68.62 623.33 18.70
6 Intikhab Alam 37 71 30.99 77.42 615.23 18.46
7 Danish Kaneria 50 116 34.51 70.45 600.93 18.03
8 Mushtaq Mohammad 27 28 34.68 78.39 576.22 17.29
9 Mushtaq Ahmed 37 67 34.73 69.64 558.32 16.75
10 Abdur Rehman 20 49 30.82 71.84 557.38 16.72

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BOWLER INNS WKTS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 Mushtaq Mohammad 43 51 26.24 60.10 746.53 89.58
2 Mushtaq Ahmed 52 118 31.97 66.66 701.68 84.20
3 Danish Kaneria 62 145 35.03 65.69 701.50 84.18
4 Saqlain Mushtaq 46 118 29.63 66.90 696.30 83.56
5 Saeed Ajmal 44 111 29.10 65.22 660.20 79.22
6 Yasir Shah 48 114 37.69 64.33 659.01 79.08
7 Iqbal Qasim 36 60 33.58 82.48 658.71 79.04
8 Abdul Qadir 43 68 47.59 97.97 555.69 66.68
9 Abdur Rehman 23 50 28.00 67.44 500.00 60.00
10 Intikhab Alam 41 54 42.48 92.17 488.16 58.58

FAVOURABLE/UNFAVOURABLE CONDITIONS

Favourable/Unfavourable Conditions 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 In Asia

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BOWLER INNS WKTS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 Abdul Qadir 80 179 28.46 64.94 849.79 25.49
2 Iqbal Qasim 67 140 26.96 75.68 791.88 23.76
3 Yasir Shah 55 173 26.10 52.63 774.70 23.24
4 Saqlain Mushtaq 58 147 28.07 63.94 702.78 21.08
5 Danish Kaneria 71 175 33.29 66.17 667.57 20.03
6 Saeed Ajmal 43 114 28.39 66.41 664.74 19.94
7 Intikhab Alam 41 76 31.37 79.43 625.59 18.77
8 Mushtaq Mohammad 30 28 35.11 79.68 584.62 17.54
9 Mushtaq Ahmed 49 88 35.98 70.66 569.44 17.08
10 Abdur Rehman 31 70 32.07 72.53 560.67 16.82

Unfavourable Conditions Rating

Asians Outside Asia

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK BOWLER INNS WKTS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 Mushtaq Ahmed 40 97 30.25 65.09 750.82 90.10
2 Mushtaq Mohammad 40 51 26.00 59.39 747.79 89.73
3 Saeed Ajmal 24 64 27.59 62.83 689.41 82.73
4 Danish Kaneria 41 86 37.87 71.13 681.46 81.78
5 Yasir Shah 34 71 44.25 72.54 664.25 79.71
6 Saqlain Mushtaq 28 61 34.10 76.57 613.76 73.65
7 Abdur Rehman 12 29 22.93 62.59 609.12 73.09
8 Abdul Qadir 31 57 46.44 96.51 596.66 71.60
9 Iqbal Qasim 19 31 33.32 78.19 578.99 69.48
10 Intikhab Alam 37 49 43.06 90.55 543.13 65.18

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 Mushtaq Mohammad 746.53 144.05 747.79 146.15 214.14
2 Mushtaq Ahmed 701.68 139.58 750.82 142.36 208.13
3 Danish Kaneria 701.50 150.23 681.46 166.89 204.01
4 Yasir Shah 659.01 179.26 664.25 193.67 203.54
5 Saeed Ajmal 660.20 161.98 689.41 166.18 201.33
6 Saqlain Mushtaq 696.30 155.83 613.76 175.69 196.99
7 Iqbal Qasim 658.71 185.88 578.99 197.97 194.58
8 Abdul Qadir 555.69 209.68 596.66 212.45 188.94
9 Abdur Rehman 500.00 139.35 609.12 140.17 166.64
10 Intikhab Alam 488.16 153.81 543.13 156.40 160.98

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 Abdul Qadir 30 103 21.68 54.11 789.08 23.67
2 Yasir Shah 30 106 24.33 50.60 731.91 21.96
3 Iqbal Qasim 30 77 21.61 60.27 693.97 20.82
4 Danish Kaneria 30 74 28.64 60.96 641.43 19.24
5 Saqlain Mushtaq 30 69 26.23 64.07 614.09 18.42
6 Saeed Ajmal 23 67 26.46 64.97 593.39 17.80
7 Mushtaq Ahmed 30 64 30.48 62.88 583.73 17.51
8 Intikhab Alam 30 64 29.41 74.11 557.92 16.74
9 Abdur Rehman 20 49 30.82 71.84 498.97 14.97
10 Mushtaq Mohammad 27 28 34.68 78.39 425.35 12.76

TOP FORM AWAY

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK BOWLER INNS WKTS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 Mushtaq Ahmed 30 89 25.06 56.55 794.72 95.37
2 Saeed Ajmal 30 84 25.10 56.55 742.10 89.05
3 Yasir Shah 30 83 32.23 58.19 732.00 87.84
4 Saqlain Mushtaq 30 78 24.96 61.41 716.98 86.04
5 Danish Kaneria 30 76 32.51 61.67 706.53 84.78
6 Mushtaq Mohammad 30 44 23.91 55.00 677.31 81.28
7 Iqbal Qasim 30 49 33.49 85.33 577.88 69.35
8 Abdur Rehman 23 50 28.00 67.44 545.76 65.49
9 Abdul Qadir 30 51 45.65 94.76 543.41 65.21
10 Intikhab Alam 30 46 36.74 78.02 540.32 64.84

IMPACT INNINGS

Impact Innings (II)

Impact Innings 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 AVE should be less than 80% of the AVE of the better innings or
  • The SR should be less than 80% of the SR of the better innings.

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 30

RANK BOWLER INNS II II Perc RAT WTG
1 Yasir Shah 89 43 48.31 669.20 100.38
2 Saqlain Mushtaq 86 36 41.86 622.64 93.40
3 Danish Kaneria 112 45 40.18 597.88 89.68
4 Saeed Ajmal 67 28 41.79 582.80 87.42
5 Abdur Rehman 43 18 41.86 570.92 85.64
6 Mushtaq Ahmed 89 35 39.33 570.52 85.58
7 Iqbal Qasim 86 31 36.05 544.52 81.68
8 Abdul Qadir 111 36 32.43 511.48 76.72
9 Intikhab Alam 78 23 29.49 414.89 62.23
10 Mushtaq Mohammad 70 18 25.71 385.31 57.80

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 Yasir Shah 21.96 87.84 100.38 210.18
2 Mushtaq Ahmed 17.51 95.37 85.58 198.46
3 Saqlain Mushtaq 18.42 86.04 93.40 197.86
4 Saeed Ajmal 17.80 89.05 87.42 194.27
5 Danish Kaneria 19.24 84.78 89.68 193.71
6 Iqbal Qasim 20.82 69.35 81.68 171.84
7 Abdur Rehman 14.97 65.49 85.64 166.10
8 Abdul Qadir 23.67 65.21 76.72 165.60
9 Mushtaq Mohammad 12.76 81.28 57.80 151.83
10 Intikhab Alam 16.74 64.84 62.23 143.81

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 15 Yasir Shah PAK 290.62 203.54 210.18 704.34
2 22 Mushtaq Ahmed PAK 267.87 208.13 198.46 674.46
3 23 Danish Kaneria PAK 276.36 204.01 193.71 674.07
4 24 Saqlain Mushtaq PAK 278.10 196.99 197.86 672.95
5 25 Saeed Ajmal PAK 274.88 201.33 194.27 670.49
6 27 Iqbal Qasim PAK 302.37 194.58 171.84 668.80
7 28 Abdul Qadir PAK 310.01 188.94 165.60 664.55
8 29 Mushtaq Mohammad PAK 284.88 214.14 151.83 650.86
9 51 Abdur Rehman PAK 238.37 166.64 166.10 571.11
10 59 Intikhab Alam PAK 233.86 160.98 143.81 538.65

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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