Yasir Shah becomes quickest Pakistan bowler to 50 Test wickets
Yasir Shah becomes quickest Pakistan bowler to 50 Test wickets
Yasir Shah picked up his 50th wicket in his 9th Test match, which is the quickest by any Pakistan bowler. Bharath Seervi highlights Yasir’s feat with some stats.
Fifty wickets from nine Test is a feat unmatched by any Pakistan bowler. Yasir Shah became the quickest Pakistan player to reach the feat. The previous record was 10 Tests held by Waqar Younis, Shabbir Ahmed and Mohammad Asif. ALSO READ: Yasir Shah achieves new milestone during Sri Lanka-Pakistan 2nd Test at Colombo
The 29-year old leg-spinner made his Test debut last year against Australia and has not missed a Test since then. He picked up 7 for 116 on debut and has turned out to be an important member of Pakistan. From 9 Tests he has picked up 54 wickets with three five-wicket hauls in addition to three other four-fors.
Yasir Shah’s 9 Tests
| Test | First innings | Second Innings | Match aggregate | Against | Venue | Date |
| 1 | 3/66 | 4/50 | 7/116 | Australia | Dubai | 22-Oct-14 |
| 2 | 2/47 | 3/44 | 5/91 | Australia | Abu Dhabi | 30-Oct-14 |
| 3 | 1/65 | 3/74 | 4/139 | New Zealand | Abu Dhabi | 09-Nov-14 |
| 4 | 2/92 | 5/79 | 7/171 | New Zealand | Dubai | 17-Nov-14 |
| 5 | 4/193 | – | 4/193 | New Zealand | Sharjah | 26-Nov-14 |
| 6 | 3/86 | 0/123 | 3/209 | Bangladesh | Khulna | 28-Apr-15 |
| 7 | 3/58 | 4/73 | 7/131 | Bangladesh | Dhaka | 06-May-15 |
| 8 | 2/79 | 7/79 | 9/155 | Sri Lanka | Galle | 17-Jun-15 |
| 9 | 6/96 | 2/55 | 8/151 | Sri Lanka | P Sara Oval | 25-Jun-15 |
– Yasir took at least one wicket in 16 of the 17 innings he bowled in. His only barren innings was against Bangladesh!
– Yasir has taken 5 or more wickets in 6 out of 9 Tests.
– Yasir is quickest Pakistani to 50 wickets, but has somehow not earned a single Man of the Match award.
Quickest Pakistan bowlers to take 50 wickets
| Bowler | Style | Tests | Year |
| Yasir Shah | Leg-spin | 9 | 2015 |
| Waqar Younis | Right-arm fast | 10 | 1990 |
| Shabbir Ahmed | Right-arm fast | 10 | 2005 |
| Mohammad Asif | Right-arm fast | 10 | 2007 |
| Khan Mohammad | Right-arm fast | 11 | 1956 |
| Saeed Ajmal | Off-spin | 11 | 2011 |
| Abdur Rehman | Left-arm spin | 11 | 2011 |
It is to be noted that of seven bowlers, five have achieved it in this century.
Yasir is also the joint second-quickest spinner to take 50 Test wickets after Alf Valentine (8 Tests).
Quickest spinners to take 50 test wickets
| Bowler | Style | Matches | Year |
| Alf Valentine | Left-arm spin | 8 | 1951 |
| Bobby Peel | Left-arm spin | 9 | 1888 |
| Arthur Mailey | Leg-spin | 9 | 1921 |
| Stuart MacGill | Leg-spin | 9 | 1999 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | Off-spin | 9 | 2012 |
| Yasir Shah | Leg-spin | 9 | 2015 |
– As is evident, Yasir is the joint-quickest leg-spinner to 50 Test wickets along with Arthur Mailey and Stuart MacGill.
With Yasir becoming the quickest Pakistan bowler to reach 50 Test wickets, let us have a look at the other countries.
Quickest bowlers to take 50 test wickets for each team
| Team | Bowler | Style | Matches | Year |
| Australia | Charlie Turner | Right-arm fast | 6 | 1888 |
| Bangladesh | Shakib Al Hasan | Left-arm spin | 15 | 2010 |
| England | Tom Richardson | Right-arm fast | 7 | 1896 |
| India | Ravichandran Ashwin | Off-spin | 9 | 2012 |
| New Zealand | Shane Bond | Right-arm fast | 12 | 2005 |
| Pakistan | Yasir Shah | Leg-spin | 9 | 2015 |
| South Africa | Vernon Philander | Right-arm fast | 7 | 2012 |
| Sri Lanka | Ajantha Mendis | Off-spin | 12 | 2010 |
| West Indies | Alf Valentine | Left-arm spin | 8 | 1951 |
| Zimbabwe | Heath Streak | Right-arm fast | 11 | 1996 |
– Vernon Philander reached 50 wickets from 7 tests in 2012. This made him the quickest in the last 100 years to reach the mark. Only Charlie Turner (6 Tests, in 1888) had been there quicker than Philander.
– For Bangladesh and West Indies the quickest to reach the milestone are left-arm bowler.
Records to aim for Yasir Shah
Yasir needs to take 46 wickets from his next 9 tests to become the quickest Pakistan bowler to reach 100 Test wickets, surpassing Saeed Ajmal (19 Tests).
The quickest spinner to take 100 Test wickets is Clarrie Grimmett (17 Tests). Yasir Shah needs 46 from 7 tests to break the record and 46 in 8 tests to equal it.
Footnote Trivia: Quickest to any 50-wicket haul
The fewest Tests to take 50 wickets at any stage of career is in 5 Tests by two bowlers on four occasions — Sydney Barnes and Muttiah Muralitharan (twice each, both overlapping).
Barnes: August 12, 1912 to January 5, 1914 — 53 wickets (13, 5, 10, 17, 8) from 5 Tests
Barnes: August 19, 1912 to February 18, 1914 – 54 wickets (5, 10, 17, 8, 14) in 5 Tests
Murali: May 25, 2006 to December 9, 2006 — 50 wickets (10,11, 10, 12, 7) in 5 Tests
Murali: June 2, 2006 to December 18, 2006 — 50 wickets (11, 10, 12, 7, 10) in 5 Tests
(Bharath Seervi is cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at @SeerviBharath and on Facebook here)