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In this post, we will check out the top 10 leg spinners of all time.
Leg spinners, also known as wrist spinners, are a type of bowler in the sport of cricket. These bowlers use a combination of wrist and finger movement to impart spin on the ball and make it behave differently in flight and on the pitch.
Leg spinners are known for their ability to make the ball turn sharply and unpredictably, making it difficult for batsmen to play.
Over the years, many leg spinners have graced the cricketing field and made a name for themselves.
We have witnessed some of the mind-boggling deliveries and lethal spells from top leg spinners of all time.
So without further delay, let’s go ahead and check out the top 10 leg spinners of all time who have changed the way the game is played.
Table of contents
Top 10 Leg Spinners Of All Time
10 Danish Kaneria
Danish Kaneria is a Pakistani former cricketer who played for the Pakistan national cricket team between 2000 and 2010. He is a top leg spinner, well known for googly.
He is one of the best leg spinners in the history of the game. Kaneria played a total of 61 Test matches for Pakistan and took 261 wickets at an average of 34.79.
He also grabbed 15 five-wicket hauls in Test cricket and attained six and seven wickets in an innings on three and four occasions respectively. Danish Kaneria is number 10 in our list of top 10 leg spinners of all time.
9 Stuart MacGill
Stuart MacGill is a former Australian cricketer who played 44 Test matches and three One Day Internationals for the Australian national cricket team.
He is a right-arm leg-spin bowler, who has been attributed for having the best strike rate of any leg-spin bowler in the history of the game.
MacGill is not only known for his best leg spins, but his googly has also been a top threat for the batters around the world. Stuart MacGill is number 9 in our list of top 10 leg spinners of all time.
8 Mushtaq Ahmed
Mushtaq Ahmed is a former Pakistani cricketer and one of the top wrist spinners of all time. He is a leg break googly bowler and one of the top leg spinners of all time.
He has been a part of the Pakistan cricket team from 1990 until 2003. During his career, he took a total of 185 wickets in Test cricket and 161 in One Day Internationals.
Mushtaq was also part of the Pakistan team that won the 1992 Cricket World Cup, and just after five years, he was designated as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year.
7 Subhash Gupte
Subhash Gupte was one of the best Test cricket spin bowlers of all time. The greats like Sir Garry Sobers, EAS Prasanna, and Jim Laker pronounced him the best leg spinner they had ever seen.
Gupte’s Test career started slowly as he went wicketless on his Test debut against England in 1951. However, he went on to pick 27 wickets from 5 Tests.
Gupte is known for spinning the ball sharply and owned two diverse googlies. He took a total of 149 wickets from 36 Tests.
6 Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud was a Test cricket all-rounder, well known for his leg-spin bowling with lower-order batting attack.
Benaud is one of the most compliant and prominent figures in Australian cricket history. During the 1950s and 1960’s he was one of the best wrist spinners on the team.
He became the first player in history to reach 200 wickets and score 2,000 runs in Test cricket. Richie has achieved this feat in 1963.
He played a total of 63 test matches, in which he has taken a total of 248 wickets. Richie Benaud is number 6 in our list of top 10 leg spinners of all time.
5 Bill O’Reilly
Bill O’Reilly was an Australian cricketer, ranked as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game.
He was one of the first remarkable leg-spinners who have changed the game of cricket. Bill played a total of 27 Tests for Australia and took 144 wickets.
He is well known to produce leg breaks, googlies, and top spinners, with no change in his action. Bill O’Reilly is number 5 in our list of top 10 leg spinners of all time.
4 BS Chandrasekhar
BS Chandrasekhar is an Indian former cricketer who played as a leg spinner. He is considered one of the best leg spinners of all time.
Chandrasekhar had played a total of 58 test matches, in which he picked up 242 wickets with an amazing average of 29.74 for India.
He is one of only two test cricketers in history to have more wickets than total runs scored. Chandrasekhar was designated as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1972.
3 Abdul Qadir
Abdul Qadir was an international cricketer who is known for his leg-spin bowling for Pakistan. Qadir is widely considered one of the best leg spinners of the 1970s and 1980s.
He emerged in 67 Tests and 104 One Day International (ODI) matches between 1977 and 1993.
Qadir is the master of the leg-spin, googlies, the flippers, the leg-breaks, and the topspins. He is number 3 in our list of top 10 leg spinners of all time.
2 Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble is widely regarded as one of the best leg-spin bowlers of all time. He took a total of 619 wickets in Test cricket and is the fourth-highest wicket-taker of all time.
Kumble was well known for his pace, bounce, and accuracy. He was nicknamed “Jumbo”. Kumble is India’s leading wicket-taker in Test cricket, beating the previous best held by Kapil Dev, who is 2nd with 434 wickets.
He was also just the 2nd bowler, after Jim Laker, to take all 10 wickets in an innings in Test cricket. He has achieved the feat of 10/74 against Pakistan in 1999.
In February 2015, he became the fourth Indian cricketer to be placed into ICC Hall of Fame.
1 Shane Warne
Shane Warne was an Australian cricketer. He is a right-arm leg spinner and widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in cricket history.
When we talk about leg spinners, the first name that strikes our mind immediately is Shane Warne. Warne has a total of 708 wickets from 145 test matches.
He is the highest wicket-taker for Australia and the second-highest wicket-taker in cricket history.
He was designated one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in the 1994 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack and was the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 1997 and 2004.
Undoubtedly, Shane Warne is the best leg spinner the game of cricket has ever seen. In 2013 Warne was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
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