Legendary Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath has ignored Zaheer Khan but included Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami in his list of top 5 Indian ODI fast bowlers of all time. Zaheer, who finished as the
joint-highest wicket-taker in the 2011 ODI World Cup, played 194 50-over matches for Men in Blue from 2000 to 2012 and accounted for the dismissal of 269 batters. The left-arm pacer from Mumbai is India’s fourth-highest wicket-taker in ODIs.
McGrath, who finished his career with a total of 949 wickets in 376 matches for Australia across formats, picked Bumrah as India’s No. 1 ODI bowler of all time and included Kapil Dev in second position. Shami is third in McGrath’s list, and he also included Ajit Agarkar and Javagal Srinath in 4th and 5th positions, respectively.
Bumrah has picked up 149 wickets in 89 ODIs for India so far, whereas Shami has dismissed 206 batters in 108 matches. Agarkar, who is the chairman of the senior men’s selection committee, finished his ODI career with 288 wickets in 181 matches, and Srinath, who is now a match referee, picked up 315 wickets in 229 ODI matches.
Srinath is India’s highest wicket-taker among pacers in ODIs, and Agarkar is in 2nd place.
Most wickets for India in ODIs (pacers)
| PLAYER | MATCHES | WICKETS | BEST FIGURES | 5-WKT HAULS |
| Javagal Srinath | 229 | 315 | 5/23 | 3 |
| Ajit Agarkar | 191 | 288 | 6/42 | 2 |
| Zaheer Khan | 194 | 269 | 5/42 | 1 |
| Kapil Dev | 225 | 253 | 5/43 | 1 |
| Mohammed Shami | 108 | 206 | 7/57 | 6 |
| Venkatesh Prasad | 161 | 196 | 5/27 | 1 |
| Irfan Pathan | 120 | 173 | 5/27 | 2 |
| Manoj Prabhakar | 130 | 157 | 5/33 | 2 |
| Ashish Nehra | 117 | 155 | 6/23 | 2 |
| Jasprit Bumrah | 89 | 149 | 6/19 | 2 |
The overall record of taking the most wickets for India in ODIs is in the name of Anil Kumble. The legendary spinner played 269 matches and dismissed 334 batters.
Most wickets for India in ODIs (overall)
| PLAYER | MATCHES | WICKETS | BEST FIGURES | 5-WKT HAULS |
| Anil Kumble | 269 | 334 | 6/12 | 2 |
| Javagal Srinath | 229 | 315 | 5/23 | 3 |
| Ajit Agarkar | 191 | 288 | 6/42 | 2 |
| Zaheer Khan | 194 | 269 | 5/42 | 1 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 234 | 265 | 5/31 | 3 |
| Kapil Dev | 225 | 253 | 5/43 | 1 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 204 | 231 | 5/33 | 2 |
| Mohammed Shami | 108 | 206 | 7/57 | 6 |
| Venkatesh Prasad | 161 | 196 | 5/27 | 1 |
| Kuldeep Yadav | 113 | 181 | 6/25 | 2 |
The Fast Bowling Cartel podcast also featured McGrath’s former Australian teammates Jason Gillespie and Damien Fleming, and they also picked their top 5 Indian ODI fast bowlers of all time. Gillespie included Bumrah, Shami, Kapil, Agarkar and Srinath in his top five list, but Fleming ignored Agarkar and instead picked Zaheer.
For him as well, Bumrah is the best Indian ODI fast bowler of all time, and he is followed by Kapil, Srinath, Shami and Zaheer.
