England's fierce fast bowler James Anderson ended his 21-year-long Test career with 704 wickets in 188 appearances in the longest format of the game. His last appearance came against West Indies in the 1st Test match of a three-match Test series at Lord's Cricket Ground in England. He becomes the first fast bowler in the world to take the most wickets in Test cricket. Here is the list of top-15 bowlers who have taken the most wickets in their international Test cricket career.
Anderson's unique record
Former Sri Lankan legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has the most 800 Test wickets in Test cricket. After this, former Australian spinner Shane Warne has the most 708 wickets. Andeson is currently the first speedster to cross the 700 wickets mark in the longest format of the game. If we take a look at the top 15 bowlers, Anil Kumble, R. Ashwin, Kapil Dev and Harbhajan Singh are also included in this list.
James Anderson gets Guard of Honor
In the last Test match of his career, James Anderson took one wicket in the first innings and three wickets in the second innings of the Test match played at Lord's Ground against West Indies. With this, Anderson ended his 21-year career with a total of four wickets and 704 wickets. Anderson, now 41 years old, bid farewell with a victory at Lord's ground and the players of both teams honoured him with a Guard of Honor.
Players
| Matches played
| Wickets
| Career |
| Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) | 133
| 800
| 1992-2010
|
| Shane Warne (Australia) | 145
| 708
| 1992-2007
|
| James Anderson (England) | 188
| 704
| 2003-2024
|
| Anil Kumble (India) | 132
| 619
| 1990-2008
|
| Stuart Broad (England) | 167
| 604
| 2007-2023
|
| Glenn McGrath (Australia) | 124
| 563
| 1993-2007
|
| K. Walsh (West Indies) | 132
| 519
| 1984-2001
|
| Nathan Lyon (Australia) | 127
| 530
| 2011-2024
|
| Ravichandran Ashwin (India) | 98
| 516
| 2011-2024
|
| Dale Steyn (South Africa) | 93
| 439
| 2004-2019
|
| Kapil Dev (India) | 131
| 434
| 1978-1994
|
| Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka) | 93
| 433
| 1999-2018
|
| Sir Richard Hadlee (New Zealand) | 86
| 431
| 1973-1990
|
| Shaun Pollock (South Africa) | 108
| 421
| 1995-2008
|
Harbhajan Singh (India)
| 103
| 417
| 1998-2015 |
James Anderson emotional
The legendary speedster was seen emotional after England won the first Test match against West Indies by 114 runs and an inning at Lord's Cricket Ground. England will now face West Indies for the second Test match which will start from July 18.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
Who is James Anderson's wife and why does she call herself widow? Here's the reason
WATCH: James Anderson gets emotional as he walks down for his final Test for England
