International cricket has seen a lot of off-spinners. They are usually widely found in all formats. The current rules in white ball cricket have nullified the threat provided by off-spinners. However, ODI history has had various off-spinners who have piled upon the wickets and won their team a lot of matches. We will now look at the off-spinners with the most ODI wickets.
1. Muttiah Muralidaran
It is widely known that Muttiah Muralidaran is the highest wicket-taker in test cricket. However, what goes unnoticed is that he holds the record for highest wickets in ODIs too. Only two bowlers have taken more than 500 wickets in ODIs, and he is one of them. Muralidaran was a bowler who was excellent at maintaining a tight economy rate and bagging wickets. He was an important reason why the Sri Lankan team was strong in ODIs in the 2000s. Muttiah Muralidaran took 534 wickets in his ODI career.
2. Saqlain Mushtaq
Saqlain Mushtaq was an off-spinner from Pakistan. He was a pioneer of the doosra. Mushtaq had fantastic control in his bowling, which helped him become a good death overs bowler in the ODIs. Saqlain Mushtaq took 288 wickets in his ODI career.
3. Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh was well known as a quality test spinner from India. However, he was an essential part of the ODI side too. He was a good support bowler for Anil Kumble. Singh was one of the few Indian bowlers to have taken more than 250 ODI wickets. Harbhajan Singh took 269 wickets in his ODI career.
4. Carl Hooper
Carl Hooper was a batting all-rounder for the West Indies. He was highly reliable as a bowler. His bowling across the span of his career might not have been as good as his batting, but it was a crucial component of the West Indies line-up, nonetheless. Carl Hooper took 193 wickets in his ODI career.
5. Saeed Ajmal
Saeed Ajmal was an off-spinner from Pakistan. He was a lethal bowler in the early 2010s, as the opponents were always wary against him. Stricter regulations from ICC regarding doosras saw him abruptly lose his effectiveness. Saeed Ajmal took 184 wickets in his ODI career.
6. Chris Gayle
Chris Gayle is undoubtedly a terrific batsman in white-ball cricket. However, what gets forgotten is that he is a handy bowler too. He was an all-rounder at the beginning of his career and then stopped bowling after it started taking a toll on his body. Chris Gayle took 167 wickets in his ODI career.
7. Shoaib Malik
Shoaib Malik was a flexible player throughout his career. At different points of his ODI career, he was a pure batsman, pure bowler, middle-order batsman, top-order batsman, part-time bowler, and so on. His off-spin was pretty handy for the Pakistani team during the early stages of his ODI career. Shoaib Malik took 158 wickets in his ODI career.
8. Ajantha Mendis
Ajantha Mendis was an off-spinner from Sri Lanka. He was the most successful mystery spinner in the past 20-30 years. At the very beginning of his career, he was unreadable. He ripped apart batting line-ups on his own across all three formats. In ODIs, one of the biggest examples of this was the final of the 2008 Asia Cup. He had an experience of just seven ODIs before the match. The Indian batting line-up was clueless against Mendis, as he took 6-13, and Sri Lanka won by 100 runs. Mendis soon lost his invincibility, as it was a side-effect of being a mystery spinner. Ajantha Mendis took 152 wickets in his ODI career.
9. Ravichandran Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin is an off-spinner from India. He is a test superstar but has also provided the Indian team with some significant support in white-ball formats. He was an all-format player in the early stages of his career. During this time, he provided control with his tight bowling in ODIs. Ravichandran Ashwin has taken 151 wickets in his ODI career.
10. Mohammad Nabi
Mohammad Nabi is an all-rounder from Afghanistan. He is a terrific middle-order batsman, and a good off-spinner. Afghanistan had a sharp rise from a middling Associate nation to a full-member one. Nabi played an integral role in it. He was also the captain of the team for a significant duration. Mohammad Nabi has taken 142 wickets in his ODI career.
